France opened itself to foreign tourism on Wednesday coinciding with the beginning of a new phase of the de-escalation that involves the lifting of many restrictions, which have prevented serving inside bars and restaurants for more than seven months due to the pandemic.
The French recovered on Wednesday small pleasures that they had forgotten with the pandemic, such as having something inside a cafe or doing sports in a gym, thanks to the relaxation of restrictions against COVID-19.
Three weeks after the reopening of the terraces of cafes, cinemas and museums, the second stage of de-escalation began on Wednesday with a curfew that runs from 9:00 pm to 11:00 pm.
French President Emmanuel Macron congratulated himself on his Twitter account that this new stage has been reached, which also implies an increase in capacity in shops, museums, cinemas, theaters and show halls, which, like sports stadiums, can receive up to 5,000 spectators.
“We had missed this life so much!” Said the president, who took the opportunity to send a message of caution: “For this recovery to be lasting, we continue to respect the protocols and security measures,” he said.
In addition, cafes and restaurants will be able to welcome people back inside, with a maximum capacity of 50% of the capacity, which will allow the reopening of a good number of small establishments that do not have terraces or are insufficient in size to be profitable.
Athletes can, for their part, re-enter gyms or swimming pools.
“It’s the first time I’ve been here in almost a year, I’ve followed the rules, that’s why I’m so hungry!” Says Maxence in one of the newest climbing halls in Paris, Arkose Nation, which opened at seven in point in the morning.
Recovered customs
After seven months of deprivation, Stéphanie Moscoso, a Brazilian student at the Institute of Political Science in Paris, went to a gym in the second district of Paris, where she has a subscription.
“I was very motivated. I woke up this morning, it was very early, I saw the sun and I said to myself: this is the beginning of a new life!”, She explained to AFP.
France also recovers the tradition of morning coffee. “It’s nice to have a coffee inside. Normal life slowly resumes,” says Hammou Mraoui, a transport worker at a bar at the Meudon train station in the Paris suburbs.
“It’s rare to hear people say ‘A coffee to drink here, please’, but it’s a huge relief,” says Christophe Guedes, the owner.
Nearby, laughter can be heard at Café Miromar, where Bernard Krolikiewicz has a long coffee. “What I missed was mostly the talk,” he says.
On trains, the bar-cars that were closed since November 2 can once again accommodate passengers, as on the Paris-Nantes TGV that left Paris Montparnasse station at 6:23 am.
“I’m happy to have a coffee,” said Pierre, the first customer to arrive two minutes after departure.
Matthieu Marie, a young executive on his way to the Vendée region on the Atlantic coast, bought something to eat. “Feels good, I haven’t had time to eat breakfast before leaving so early,” he says.
This new phase of disarray will last three weeks and it will be necessary to wait until June 30 for the curfew, the capacity limit in bars, restaurants and cultural spaces, and the limitations on outdoor meetings to end.
Tourism returns
Coinciding with the start of a new phase of de-escalation, France opened itself up to foreign tourism on Wednesday.
With regard to travel from abroad, France accepts from this Wednesday the entry without a covid test to those who have the complete vaccination protocol when they arrive from another country of the European Economic Area or from the other States of its “green list “: Australia, South Korea, Israel, Japan, Lebanon, New Zealand or Singapore.
The rest of travelers not vaccinated from those same destinations must present a PCR or antigen test carried out no later than 72 hours before boarding.
If you enter France from the countries on its “orange list”, where most of the world’s countries are (including Mexico, the United Kingdom and the United States), a negative test must be added to the vaccination certificate at most 48 hours before of the shipment.
France only accepts the certificate of vaccines that have received the approval of the European Medicines Authority (EMA), which excludes the Chinese and also the Russian Sputnik V, which are those that have been administered mostly in Latin America.
It is still impossible to go to France for tourism from the “red list” countries (including India, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile and Uruguay) due to the level of epidemic incidence and the presence of disturbing variants .
With information from AFP and EFE
