Paris (AFP)

The French are living Monday their last day with limited travel before the reopening of cafes, restaurants, colleges and high schools in most of the country, marking the return to "an almost normal life", in the words of Edouard Philippe.

Tuesday, after more than two months of forced closure due to coronavirus, bars, cafes and restaurants in green areas are authorized to reopen for phase 2 of deconfinement, with strict sanitary rules: ten people maximum per table, one meter per less between each group, standing consumption prohibited in bars.

Almost everywhere in the country, restaurateurs are preparing for this long-awaited moment, as in Strasbourg, at the famous restaurant Maison Kammerzell.

"We spent several hours cleaning everything" and hunting for coronavirus. Monday, we have a second Covid disinfection, even more thorough, "said Théo Stutzmann, butler, to AFP.

The mask is mandatory for waiters, and for customers who want to go to the bathroom. "We all once asked the salt shaker to a neighbor at the table. There, it will no longer be possible," added Mr. Stutzmann.

- measured "optimism" of restaurateurs -

"It is the optimism that reigns today," says Hervé Becam, Confederal Vice-President of the Union of Hotel Trades and Industries (Umih). "The standards have started to flash, reservations are being made".

"We can reopen but economically it will not be profitable, we know very well", tempers Didier Chenet, president of the National Group of Independent Hotel, Restaurant and Catering (GNI). According to a survey by this organization, around 17% of restaurateurs said they were unable to reopen. Some establishments will wait until September.

In Paris, where only the reopening of terraces is authorized (as in all orange areas), the town hall announced that bars, cafes and restaurants could extend for free on part of the public space, sidewalks, parking spaces or even some streets closed to traffic. The LR candidate for mayor of Paris Rachida Dati, however, predicted "tensions" with residents and pedestrians because of this measure.

In addition to cafes, the reopening of all beaches on Tuesday is also eagerly awaited, from the English Channel to the Mediterranean.

The travel limit more than 100 km from the home will be lifted. As will soon be the restriction of one seat on two on SNCF trains.

All the colleges and schools of metropolitan France will reopen, as well as the lycées of the departments classified green, but in a gradual manner, which means that all the students will not resume on Tuesday.

But if the economy has taken a breath of fresh air since the start of deconfinement on May 11, it will not return to its pre-crisis level for a long time, notably due to a historic recession.

Unemployment jumped 22% in April with 843,000 more job seekers.

And the French automobile market plunged again in May, by 50.34%, the manufacturers discerning however the first signs of recovery, according to data published Monday.

- "five clusters per day" -

In total, the Covid-19 killed 28,802 people in France (+31), according to the latest report published on Sunday. The number of resuscitation patients continues to decrease (1,319). This slowing down of the epidemic allowed the government to give the green light Thursday to the lifting of new restrictions.

But for experts, the second phase of deconfinement does not mean that we must lower our guard.

"Relive as before the epidemic? No, not yet," Arnaud Fontanet, epidemiologist at the Pasteur Institute and member of the Scientific Council consulted by the executive on questions relating to Covid, said on RMC / BFMTV.

"I will not talk about extinction because the virus will stay, but a significant decline (in its spread) is underway," he said.

"There are nevertheless five new clusters every day (...) we have more than 100 clusters which have been declared since May 11, so we can still see that the virus is still present", warned the expert.

He also recalled that France had "the capacity now to test up to 100,000 people per day" and that "if people get tested and if the number of cases does not increase, we will know that the virus is under control ".

Finally, the StopCovid tracking application, intended to track the spread of the coronavirus, will be available from Tuesday noon.

burs-ram / rh / fmp

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