Parks and gardens reopen on Saturday in France, cafes and restaurants are preparing to welcome their first customers on Tuesday since mid-March: a scent of newfound freedom floats on the Pentecost weekend, despite still limited travel and a grim economic landscape. The government gave the green light Thursday to the lifting of many restrictions thanks to the "good results" on the front of the coronavirus epidemic, in the words of Prime Minister, Edouard Philippe. He insisted on the continuous decrease since April 9 in the number of patients treated in intensive care.
All the departments are in the green zone with the exception of those of Île-de-France, Guyana and Mayotte, which have gone from red to orange. Deconfinement will therefore be a little more cautious than in the rest of the territory. The parks and gardens can be reopened from Saturday by the town halls, but with caution, in the areas where they had remained closed, in particular in Paris. Enough to satisfy many French people at the start of a weekend that promises to be summer over a large part of the country.
The beaches and lakes should be gradually accessible again from June 2, the date on which other restrictions will be lifted, such as the removal of the limit on travel more than 100 kilometers from home, the reopening of high schools and coffee shops. But beware, the 100 km rule is "still in effect this weekend" and there will be "controls" , warned the Minister of the Interior, Christophe Castaner, on RTL Friday. He also appealed to "responsibility and good citizenship" of the French for this phase 2 of deconfinement.
Galeries Lafayette reopens on Saturday
In addition to the parks and gardens, the Galeries Lafayette will reopen Saturday morning in Paris, with a limited number of customers and precautions so that the barges meet as little as possible. The urgency for the executive is also to revive the economic machine, seized by two months of confinement. The Minister of Labor, Muriel Pénicaud, called on the French to "come out" and "consume" the 60 billion euros "saved" during confinement, in order to "fight" the economic and social crisis.
The fall in gross domestic product (GDP) reached 5.3% in the first quarter, before a dip expected in the second quarter. And unemployment made a spectacular good of 22% in April, with 843,000 additional job seekers, according to Pôle emploi.
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On the school front, there will be no reduction in the protocol that governs the reception of students between now and the summer holidays on July 4, the Minister of National Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer, warned on Friday. . Currently, more than 80% of schools have been reopened in France, but they only accommodate 22% of pupils, mainly due to a multitude of constraints such as respecting a minimum distance of one meter between pupils or the number of pupils. limited to 15 children per class in primary school.
