Paris (AFP)

A café on the terrace, a cinema screening, a visit to the museum?

Wednesday, after six months of closures and a winter marred by the murderous Covid, France finds part of its leisure activities and a little freedom, against the backdrop of the decline of the epidemic.

Witnesses to this breath of newfound freedom, the tables are set and the chairs finally aligned on the sidewalks, or on wooden terraces nibbling the parking spaces.

Closed since October 30, 2020, more than six and a half months, cafes and restaurants are again authorized to serve their customers, but outdoors, with good ventilation and around tables of up to six people.

A partial breath of fresh air for a sector hard hit by the health crisis, despite state aid, because only 40% of establishments have a terrace.

But for many, the phone has not stopped ringing this week and the crowd should not be lacking despite the capricious weather in part of the country.

"I have reservations for the first three days, for lunch and aperitif, that's a pleasure", testifies Patricia Marchand, manager of the Café des feuilles, a small restaurant in the center of Rennes, who "apprehends a very big euphoria downtown".

- Curfew at 9 p.m. -

If it is not for a drink on the terrace, life resumes in cinemas, theaters or museums, despite gauges there too to limit the risks of the spread of the coronavirus.

"Drunk", "Farewell idiots", "DNA", "Rag boy" ... film lovers will be spoiled for choice by finding their way to dark rooms, open to 35% of their capacity and 800 people in maximum per room.

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Another symbol of the return to a form of normality, businesses will be able to reopen, from toy stores to clothing stores, some of which are showing a 40% drop in their turnover, but with a limit of one customer per 8 m2. .

Finally, two handball posters inaugurate the return of fans to the theaters (800 spectators maximum), with a quarter-final second leg of the Champions League at the Coubertin stadium in Paris for PSG against the Germans in Kiel and a first leg of the Women's league between Metz and Brest in the Arènes messines.

One year and two months after the start of the epidemic, which killed around 108,000 in France (including 187 in hospitals on Tuesday), and which should cost 424 billion euros over three years to public finances, freedom remains limited .

Applied throughout the country since January 16 at 6:00 p.m. then 7:00 p.m., the curfew is only pushed back to 9:00 p.m. on Wednesday.

- 4,000 patients in shifts -

As a result, the final of the French Football Cup, a prestigious poster between Paris SG and Monaco at 9.15 p.m., takes place behind closed doors at the Stade de France, transformed during the day into a vaccination center.

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The reopening train marks the second stage of the four-phase plan announced at the end of April by Emmanuel Macron, and which is to continue on June 9 with the reopening of indoor cafes and restaurants, less strict gauges and a curfew shifted to 23 h, before disappearing on June 30 if the situation allows it.

Because if the circulation of the virus has decreased for four weeks, it is far from having disappeared, with about 14,000 new cases recorded each day on average.

In an opinion delivered on May 6 to the government, the scientific council had called for "to avoid the occurrence during the summer of 2021 of a possible 4th wave, which would be induced by a hasty exit" from the health restrictions, while judging the "reopening desirable and even necessary ".

At the same time, the vaccination campaign is continuing.

As of Tuesday evening, 21 million people had received a first injection, or nearly a third of the total population (31.5%), of which 9.1 million were vaccinated with two doses (13.6% of the total population ).

© 2021 AFP