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Source: PA Images
PEOPLE IN FRANCE will be able to return to their favorite stores and attend religious services again next week after a month of partial virus lockdown, but will have to wait until at least January 20 to enjoy a meal at a restaurant or enjoy a workout in the gym. .
President Emmanuel Macron today set new rules in France’s virus strategy, after imposing nationwide restrictions last month as virus infections, the number of people hospitalized and deaths rose across Europe.
France’s infection rate per 100,000 inhabitants is now less than a third of what it was in early November, and the number of people in hospitals and intensive care has been on a downward trend for a week.
“The peak of the second wave is over,” Macron announced in a televised address to the nation.
However, the situation remains tense, with hundreds of virus-related deaths daily, so the cautious exit from the lockdown reflects that.
On December 15, some museums and cinemas will be allowed to open, and the rules of staying at home were relaxed at the national level.
France will reintroduce its 9:00 p.m. curfew and associated strict fines.
Macron said the curfew will be waived on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.
On January 20, and only if daily infections fall below the 5,000 mark, restaurants and gyms will be able to reopen.
Currently, everyone in France needs a permit to leave home and leisure travel is not allowed, although schools and some workplaces remain open.
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People with masks on their bodies dance during a demonstration against the closure of nightclubs, bars, shops and restaurants in Lyon.
Source: PA Images
The government ruled in line with doctors who cautioned against easing restrictions too quickly and repeating the mistakes France made emerging from a lockdown in the spring, without a clear mask policy and limited testing capacity.
“If we let it go too fast, the virus will circulate again too fast,” Remi Salomon, head of the medical commission of the Paris hospital authority, told France-Info station today.
Wearing warmers, girdles or headgear made from surgical masks, shop, restaurant and bar owners marched through Lyon on Monday to demand permission to reopen.
Some were firing red flares and one was holding a sign that read simply: “There is no future.”
France has reported more infections than any other country in Europe and 49,232 virus-related deaths, among the highest tolls in the world.
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