Part of Europe, including France, will find its stores this weekend, reassured by the ebb of the coronavirus.

France, which reopens its businesses on Saturday, sees the number of hospitalizations linked to Covid-19, including in intensive care, still falling.

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Part of Europe, including France, will find its stores this weekend, reassured by the ebb of the coronavirus.

In France, the first stage of gradual deconfinement takes place this Saturday with the reopening of all shops.

The latest Covid-19 figures continue to show a drop in hospitalizations, including in intensive care.

Follow the evolution of the situation live.

Information to remember:

  • France begins the first stage of gradual deconfinement on Saturday

  • Hospital pressure continues to decline, as the virus has killed 51,914 people in the country

  • Europe is slowly deconfining

New containment rules

French Prime Minister Jean Castex detailed Thursday the containment relief measures, which will be lifted on December 15 to be replaced by a national curfew, from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m.

All the shops will reopen on Saturday, according to a strict protocol which requires certain brands to find technical solutions, in particular to count the number of customers present in the store.

Travel will be permitted within a radius of 20km for three hours.

Here is what changes and what does not change from this Saturday.

A return to normal, with restaurants reopening, is planned for January 20, but on the express condition that "the end of the year holiday period does not (have) resulted in a rebound in the epidemic", warned the Prime Minister, recalling that until then, "teleworking will remain the rule and should be as massive as possible".

Jean Castex announced Thursday that he wanted to make 2021 "the year of French gastronomy" in order to help restaurants, which are particularly affected.

Hospital pressure still falling

Health data on Covid-19 has stopped deteriorating, with a further decline in admissions to intensive care units, but the epidemic has still killed 393 people in hospital in the past 24 hours, according to Health figures public France published on Friday. 

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With these new deaths in hospital, the number of deaths linked to the coronavirus has risen to 51,914 since the start of the epidemic in France, in hospitals and in nursing homes.

28,648 people carrying the virus were still hospitalized Thursday, against 29,282 the day before, and after a peak to more than 33,000 in mid-November.

The intensive care units had 3,883 patients (against 4,006 the day before), including 206 new admissions in 24 hours.

Streamlining measures in Europe, but not everywhere

Conversely, the situation seems to be improving to the point of prompting the authorities to relax the pressure.

In Poland, shopping centers reopen on Saturday.

Irish and Belgians will have to wait until Tuesday to find their traders, but in these two countries the ebb of the epidemic is confirmed.

And, as of Sunday, three new regions in Italy will lift their restrictions, allowing non-essential businesses to reopen.

But in these regions, Lombardy (north), Piedmont (north-west) and Calabria (south), bars and restaurants will remain closed, just like in France or Belgium.

The European continent as a whole, however, is still a long way from getting rid of the coronavirus.

In Germany, yet considered a good student in the fight against Covid-19, the restrictions remain in force until early January.

In Cyprus, the authorities decided to impose a curfew on Monday.

And in Turkey, an age-based curfew will be imposed from Saturday.

In Britain, Wales will tighten restrictions on pubs and restaurants to limit the spread of the virus before Christmas.

This comes after a new containment decided by Northern Ireland and the return in England to a three-level alert system.

Almost 61 million cases worldwide

Almost 61 million cases of Covid-19 have been officially counted worldwide since the start of the pandemic, and more than 1.4 million people have died from it.

Mexico experienced a record of contaminations in 24 hours on Friday, for the first time exceeding the threshold of 12,000 cases in a single day.

The United States remains the most bereaved country in the world with 264,823 dead.