France deconfinement: Dates for reopening restaurants, museums, shops

Prime Minister Jean Castex has said that the government is planning “a new series of re-openings around mid-May, which could include non-essential shops, some cultural activities and restaurant terraces”.

While the 19:00-06:00 curfew will remain in place until then, travel limits will be lifted and exemption forms no longer needed from May 3, he said.

The reopening of different establishments including restaurants, museums and non-essential shops will depend on the evolving Covid data, and the exact dates may differ by area. Health Minister Olivier Véran said in an interview last week that he is in favour of lifting stricter Covid rules in France by territory, dependent on the local health situation.

Read more: French minister favours easing Covid rules in lower-risk areas first

According to Mr Castex, the current data is positive, with pressure on hospitals likely to decrease over the next few days. “We can see there has been a real lowering of the circulation of the virus in the past 10 days. The peak of the third wave seems to be behind us."

However, some experts have argued that a mid-May opening may be too soon.

The chart below shows the government's current timeline for the re-opening of various venues.

A Flourish table

On 22 April, France recorded 34,318 new cases of Covid in the previous 24 hours and 285 new deaths. The rate of positive tests was at 9.9%. You can see more of the current Covid data for France in our Coronavirus daily updates.

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