KazPost

Kazakhstan News
Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

France reopens restaurants, bars and borders as COVID-19 rules ease

France reopens restaurants, bars and borders as COVID-19 rules ease

French people are from Wednesday allowed back into restaurants and bars while foreign travellers with a COVID passport can once more visit the country.

Wednesday marks the next phase in the easing of restrictions announced in late April by President Emmanuel Macron.

It is heavily dependent on the rollout of a health pass attesting the holder has either been vaccinated, has recently tested negative for the virus, or has recently recovered from it.

What are the changes in restrictions?


*  The nighttime curfew is pushed back by another two hours to 23:00 — it is meant to be fully lifted on June 30;

*  Cafés and restaurants can welcome customers indoors at 50% capacity with a maximum of 6 people per table. Terraces can be filled at 100% capacity, also with a maximum of six people per table;

*  Capacity at museums and other cultural venues including cinemas and theatres is increased with events of up to 5,000 people allowed although health passes are required for any event of more than 1,000 people;

*  Capacity at outdoor sporting events increased to 5,000 with health passes if over 1,000;

*  Large exhibitions and fairs can be held with a maximum of 5,000 people in attendance with health passes if over 1,000;

*  Outdoor physical activity, including contact sports, allowed with a maximum of 25 participants. Amateur competitions can also proceed with a maximum of 500 people;

*  Places of worship and partnership ceremonies, as well as marriages, can proceed at 50% capacity;

*  Funerals can be attended by up to 75 people;

*  Foreign tourists with health passes can enter the country.

What are the travel restrictions?


From today, France operates under a traffic-light system similar to the UK with countries either classed as green, amber or red depending on their epidemiological situation. The list will be updated on a regular basis and can be accessed here.

Green countries include the rest of the EU as well as Australia, Israel, Japan, Lebanon, New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea.

Travellers must have either been fully vaccinated with a jab approved by the European Medicines Agency — Pfizer/BioNTech, AstraZeneca/Oxford University, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson — or present a negative PCR test no older than 72 hours prior to travelling if unvaccinated.

Most other countries fall into the amber category including the US and UK and most of Asia and Africa.

To be let through the border, travellers must be either fully inoculated with an EMA-approved vaccine and present a negative PCR or antigen test taken over the previous 72 hours; or if they are unvaccinated, have an essential reason to visit in which case they will have to submit to a test prior to their departure and self-isolate for seven days upon arrival.

Countries with an "active circulation" of the virus are categorised as red. These include Argentina, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, India, Nepal, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Turkey, and Uruguay.

All travellers from these countries — whether vaccinated or not — must justify an essential reason to visit, present a PCR or antigen test no older than 48 hours prior to their departure, and submit to an antigen test upon arrival. Vaccinated people then need to self-isolate for seven days while unvaccinated travellers must submit to a 10-day quarantine controlled by law enforcement officers.

What's the COVID situation in France?


France is one of the most heavily impacted countries in Europe with more than 110,000 lives lost to the pandemic.

The national seven-day incidence rate is currently at 68.7 infections per 100,000 inhabitants, down from 364.6 cases per 100,000 population when the third national lockdown was announced on March 31. About a third of the country's metropolitan départements have an incidence rate below 50 cases per 100,000 inhabitants including some on the Mediterranean coast badly afflicted earlier this year.

An average of 6,100 people have tested positive for the virus daily over the past week. The number of hospitalisations has also dramatically fallen over the past two months with 394 COVID-19 patients admitted on Tuesday, down from a 2021 peak of more than 2,100 on April 12.

More than 28.2 million of the country's 67.1 million population have received at least one shot with 14.3 million fully vaccinated.

Newsletter

Related Articles

KazPost
0:00
0:00
Close
It's always the people with the dirty hands pointing their fingers
Paper straws found to contain long-lasting and potentially toxic chemicals - study
FTX's Bankman-Fried headed for jail after judge revokes bail
Blackrock gets half a trillion dollar deal to rebuild Ukraine
America's First New Nuclear Reactor in Nearly Seven Years Begins Operations
Southeast Asia moves closer to economic unity with new regional payments system
Today Hunter Biden’s best friend and business associate, Devon Archer, testified that Joe Biden met in Georgetown with Russian Moscow Mayor's Wife Yelena Baturina who later paid Hunter Biden $3.5 million in so called “consulting fees”
Singapore Carries Out First Execution of a Woman in Two Decades Amid Capital Punishment Debate
Google testing journalism AI. We are doing it already 2 years, and without Google biased propoganda and manipulated censorship
Unlike illegal imigrants coming by boats - US Citizens Will Need Visa To Travel To Europe in 2024
Musk announces Twitter name and logo change to X.com
The future of sports
Unveiling the Black Hole: The Mysterious Fate of EU's Aid to Ukraine
Farewell to a Music Titan: Tony Bennett, Renowned Jazz and Pop Vocalist, Passes Away at 96
Alarming Behavior Among Florida's Sharks Raises Concerns Over Possible Cocaine Exposure
Transgender Exclusion in Miss Italy Stirs Controversy Amidst Changing Global Beauty Pageant Landscape
TikTok Takes On Spotify And Apple, Launches Own Music Service
Global Trend: Using Anti-Fake News Laws as Censorship Tools - A Deep Dive into Tunisia's Scenario
Arresting Putin During South African Visit Would Equate to War Declaration, Asserts President Ramaphosa
Hacktivist Collective Anonymous Launches 'Project Disclosure' to Unearth Information on UFOs and ETIs
Typo sends millions of US military emails to Russian ally Mali
Server Arrested For Theft After Refusing To Pay A Table's $100 Restaurant Bill When They Dined & Dashed
The Changing Face of Europe: How Mass Migration is Reshaping the Political Landscape
China Urges EU to Clarify Strategic Partnership Amid Trade Tensions
Europe is boiling: Extreme Weather Conditions Prevail Across the Continent
The Last Pour: Anchor Brewing, America's Pioneer Craft Brewer, Closes After 127 Years
Democracy not: EU's Digital Commissioner Considers Shutting Down Social Media Platforms Amid Social Unrest
Sarah Silverman and Renowned Authors Lodge Copyright Infringement Case Against OpenAI and Meta
Why Do Tech Executives Support Kennedy Jr.?
The New York Times Announces Closure of its Sports Section in Favor of The Athletic
BBC Anchor Huw Edwards Hospitalized Amid Child Sex Abuse Allegations, Family Confirms
Florida Attorney General requests Meta CEO's testimony on company's platforms' alleged facilitation of illicit activities
The Distorted Mirror of actual approval ratings: Examining the True Threat to Democracy Beyond the Persona of Putin
40,000 child slaves in Congo are forced to work in cobalt mines so we can drive electric cars.
Historic Moment: Edgars Rinkevics, EU's First Openly Gay Head of State, Takes Office as Latvia's President
An Ominous Shift in Warfare: Western Powers Risk War Crimes and Violate International Norms with Cluster Bomb Supply to Ukraine
Bye bye democracy, human rights, freedom: French Cops Can Now Secretly Activate Phone Cameras, Microphones And GPS To Spy On Citizens
The Poor Man With Money, Mark Zuckerberg, Unveils Twitter Replica with Heavy-Handed Censorship: A New Low in Innovation?
The Double-Edged Sword of AI: AI is linked to layoffs in industry that created it
US Sanctions on China's Chip Industry Backfire, Prompting Self-Inflicted Blowback
Meta Copy Twitter with New App, Threads
The New French Revolution
BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Application Refiled, Naming Coinbase as ‘Surveillance-Sharing’ Partner
Corruption in the European Parliament - Business as usual
UK Crypto and Stablecoin Regulations Become Law as Royal Assent is Granted
Paris Suburb Grapples with Violence as Curfew Imposed: Saint-Denis Residents Express Dismay and Anger
A Delaware city wants to let businesses vote in its elections
Alef Aeronautics Achieves Historic Milestone with Flight Certification for World's First Flying Car
Google Blocked Access to Canadian News in Response to New Legislation
French Politicians Advocate for Pan-European Regulation on Social Media Influencers
×