France's president Emmanuel Macron has suggested the nationwide curfew in the country could be relaxed, saying: "We will try to ease it a bit because 7 p.m. is early."

The curfew has been in place since December 2020 to discourage evening movements and is currently in effect every day from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. 

Supermarkets and pharmacies have to close by 7 p.m. and the public must be at home by then, unless traveling to or from essential work. 

 

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Macron also said: "Our hope is that we can, at a national level, keep the objective of mid-May for reopening [cafes and restaurant] terraces."

The French president made the remarks during a visit to a primary school, where one girl told him that she found the curfew "a little annoying."

He went to the town of Melun, 50 kilometers south of Paris on Monday to mark the start of the easing of COVID-19 restrictions, as primary schoolchildren are now returning to the classrooms. 

All schools were closed for three weeks to try to control the third wave of infections as part of what the French government called "supplementary braking measures."

The government said repeatedly that shutting schools was a last resort due to the impact on children's learning and parents having to work from home. 

But the deteriorating picture in hospitals and morgues meant ministers were forced to act. 

A week of distance-learning was imposed and then all primary schools nationwide had a two-week spring holiday brought forward to try to limit infections. 

Now preschools and elementary pupils are back in the classroom although if one pupil or teacher tests positive to COVID-19, then that class will be closed and all children in the class will be considered contact cases. 

Face masks have to be worn by all children aged six or older and 400,000 saliva tests will be carried out this week on pupils. 

Secondary schools will return from May 3, but to a hybrid timetable instead of normal, in-person lessons.