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TOURISM

Cafés in France get extra terrace space for reopening on Tuesday

Restaurants, cafés and bars in Paris will be able to put more tables outside when they reopen on Tuesday after two months of lockdown, allowing them to serve more clients even as their inside dining rooms must remain closed.

Published: 31 May 2020 12:54 CEST
Cafés in France get extra terrace space for reopening on Tuesday
Employees prepare the terrace of Cafe de Flore in Paris ready for the June 2nd official reopening. Ludovic MARIN / AFP

“In this crisis, Paris needs to support its restaurants and bars. They are the heart of our city,” Mayor Anne Hidalgo told Sunday's Parisien newspaper.

While other restaurants across France can fully reopen on Tuesday, the high number of COVID-19 cases and higher contagion risks in the densely populated Paris region prompted authorities to allow only limited operations for now.

But Paris restaurants and cafés will be allowed to spread out along sidewalks and even set up tables in parking spaces in front of their buildings.

They can even expand their terraces in front of neighbouring businesses if the owners do not object, said Jean-Louis Missika, the city's deputy major in charge of urbanism.

Terrace taxes have also been suspended in the capital and other French cities to help owners recover from the coronavirus shutdowns.

People drink outside a cafe in Paris on May 29, 2020, ahead of the re-opening of the French capital's cafe terraces, scheduled for June 2, as France eases lockdown measures taken to curb the spread of the coronavirus. GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT / AFP

“This is going to let these businesses get back up and running,” said Didier Chenet, president of the GNI Synhorcat of restaurant owners.

He said that Paris counts some 12,500 establishments with terraces, though only 1,500 are covered.

Some Paris restaurants jumped the gun over the Pentecost holiday weekend, with police largely turning a blind eye to impromptu patios set up across the city on Saturday.

Hidalgo told the Parisien that streets would be closed off entirely in some neighbourhoods, such as the picturesque Rue Lepic in Montmartre or the Place des Vosges in the Marais, a nightlife hotspot.

The restaurant reopenings are part of the second phase of France's “deconfinement” plan, which will also lift a 100-kilometre (60-mile) limit on travel.

The new rules for the restaurants and cafés include: 

  • All staff will have to wear masks
  • Customers must wear masks when moving around inside
  • Tables will be limited to a maximum of 10 people
  • All tables must be spaced at least one metre apart
  • Drinking at the bar will be forbidden as all clients inside the bars must be seated

More schools will begin welcoming students back this week and museums and monuments can open, though face masks must be worn and many will require visitors to follow strict itineraries.

But gatherings of more than 10 people in public places will remain prohibited until June 21, and the wearing of a mask on public transport is obligatory.

READ MORE:

They key dates to know for the next phases of France's lockdown

What are the new rules in France for reopening cafés and restaurants? 

 

 

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HEALTH

France’s Covid-19 app to be ‘put to sleep’

France's Covid-tracker app, used for months for the all-important 'health pass' will be switched off today, health officials have confirmed.

Published: 30 June 2023 13:29 CEST
France’s Covid-19 app to be 'put to sleep'

Covid-19 screening in France reaches an important milestone on Friday, June 30th, 2023 – when the TousAntiCovid app is officially ‘put to sleep’.

The app, which was launched in June 2020 as France came out of its first lockdown of the pandemic and has undergone a number of iterations, including as a delivery device for the health pass, will be switched off. 

For most people, this anniversary will pass without mention. Few people have consulted the app in recent months, and it has sat dormant on many smartphones since France’s Covid-19 health pass requirement was suspended in March 2022.

Meanwhile, the Système d’Informations de DEPistage (SI-DEP) interface – which has been informing people about their test results since the Spring of 2020 – is also being shut down on June 30th, as per legal requirements.

The SI-DEP shutdown means that it will also be impossible to retrieve Covid test certificates issued before June 30th, should the need arise. All data held by the database will be “destroyed”, officials have said.

It has handled more than 320 million antigen and PCR tests since it was introduced.

This does not mean that testing for Covid-19 has stopped, or is now unnecessary. As reported recently, more than 1,000 deaths a week in Europe are still caused by the virus.

The shutdown of the national information system does not mean that people in France cannot still book an appointment for an antigen test at a pharmacy, or a PCR test at a laboratory. But the number of people going for testing is declining rapidly. In recent days, according to Le Parisien, just 15,000 people in France took a Covid test – the lowest number, it said, since the pandemic started.

Reimbursement rules for testing changed on March 1st, with only certain categories of people – minors, those aged 65 and over, or immunosuppressed patients – covered for the entire cost of testing.

From Friday, only PCR test results will be transmitted to authorities for data purposes, meaning pharmacists that only offer antigen testing will be locked out of the online interface to record test results.

The reason for the shift in priorities is to maintain “minimal epidemiological surveillance”, the Ministry of Health has reportedly told scientists.

As a result test certificates, showing a positive or negative result, will no longer be issued from July 1st. Since February 1st, anyone taking a test has had to give consent to share their data in order to obtain a certificate. 

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