Coronavirus Updates: France lifts more COVID-19 restrictions.
France began its second phase of easing coronavirus restrictions on Tuesday after two months of lockdown, symbolizing the return to what the prime minister called “an almost normal life.”
Cafes and restaurants are allowed to reopen in the country’s so-called green zones, areas where the novel coronavirus is deemed least actively circulating. Parks, gardens and restaurants terraces only can reopen in Paris, now an orange zone, as inside dining rooms must remain closed. France no longer has any red zones, which denoted areas where the virus was actively circulating.
Some Parisians were seen rushing to restaurant terraces as soon as midnight struck.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has released a list of streets that can be closed to traffic to allow bars, cafes and restaurants to expand their seating outdoors.
“In this crisis, Paris needs to support its restaurants and bars,” Hidalgo told French daily newspaper Le Parisien on Sunday. “They are the heart of our city.”
Most schools have now reopened across the country. Movement restrictions have been lifted, with residents permitted to travel 60 miles beyond their homes again. Museums and monuments have also started to reopen.
France began the initial easing of lockdown measures on May 11. The European nation has reported more than 189,000 diagnosed cases of COVID-19 with at least 28,836 deaths, according to a count kept by Johns Hopkins University.
