France reopens cafes, restaurants and museums as COVID-19 cases drop

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People in France are once again able to sit outside at a cafe or restaurant as the next stage of the government's COVID-19 reopening strategy comes into effect.

President Emmanuel Macron was joined by Prime Minister Jean Castex as they sat down together outside at a cafe near the Elysee Palace in Paris on Wednesday morning for a cup of coffee.

Cafes and restaurants have only been able to serve takeaway food and drink since October last year.

France's President Emmanuel Macron, right, and Prime Minister Jean Castex at a cafe terrace in Paris on May 19, 2021. /Geoffroy van der Hasselt / AFP

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France's culture and hospitality sectors have been closed for more than six months since the second lockdown last fall.

Cinemas, museums, galleries, theaters, and non-essential shops are able to reopen from May 19 as well, albeit with a limit on total capacity based on the floor size of the venue.

In addition, the nationwide curfew has also been relaxed to start at 9 p.m. local time, instead of 7 p.m..

A member of staff serves customers at a restaurant on the Trottel beach in Ajaccio, on the French Mediterranean island of Corsica, on Wednesday as cafes, restaurants and other businesses reopen. /Pascal Pochard-Casabianca / AFP

The government is hoping for a successful strategy of loosening restrictions to run alongside its vaccination campaign.

Some 20 million people, which is more than a third of France's population, have received at least one jab so far and the government wants 30 million people to have had their first vaccination by the middle of next month.

June 9 is when the next stage of the French government's reopening program should come into effect.

Ministers hope to be able to open up the borders for non-essential travel and relax the curfew even further, as well as permit some indoor dining in restaurants.

Then, under the current timetable for reopening, from June 30 the curfew should be removed entirely and cafes and restaurants allowed to open their premises fully.

The incidence rate in France – which is the number of coronavirus cases per 100,000 people in a seven-day period – is continuing to fall and is now 149, after a figure of 198 last week.

The daily average of new cases in past seven days was 14,025, compared with 17,113 the week before.

Daily deaths are now averaging 157 in 24 hours, compared with 221 and 254 in the past two weeks.

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