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| - Cafes and restaurants reopened across France on Tuesday as the country took its latest step out of coronavirus lockdown, with clients seizing the chance to bask on sunny terraces after 10 weeks of closures to fight the outbreak. "I'm almost overwhelmed," Martine Depagniat, wearing a beige face mask and sunglasses, said at the Cafe de la Comedie in Paris, just across the street from the Louvre Museum where she works. "Coffee on a terrace, that's Paris!," she said. "I think people really need a return to normal, even though there's still a bit of nervousness." In the French capital and its suburbs, only outdoor seating and takeout is allowed, since dining rooms remain closed because of high contagion risks in the region. But in the rest of the country cafes and restaurants are fully open, though with strict social distancing rules of at least one metre (three feet) between tables, and no standing at bars for drinks. Some even welcomed customers at the stroke of midnight to celebrate their newfound freedom. "We're leaving our confinement, to rediscover the pleasures and good times spent together," said Frederic de Boulois, president of a regional hotel association in Nantes, western France, at the aptly named Prison du Bouffay, a restaurant that sits atop a former mediaeval dungeon. The number of new coronavirus cases nationwide has dropped in recent days, with 31 daily deaths reported on Monday, though officials said the number did not include reports from retirement homes during the Pentecost holiday weekend. Officials have announced that care homes, which have seen heavy COVID-19 tolls, would again be allowed to receive visitors later this week, including young children. "We're hoping the weather will stay good, because all we have are the terraces," said Petro Jaupi, owner of the Auberge de la Butte in the picturesque Butte aux Cailles neighbourhood of Paris. "We also hope that clients will be confident enough to come back," he said. The government credits the strict lockdown, which lasted from March 17 to May 11, with saving thousands of lives by relieving pressure on hospitals, but it is eager to restart an economy devastated by the measures. Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said Tuesday that the economy could shrink 11 percent this year in a recession that could force numerous companies into bankruptcy. "Get everyone working and try to limit a jobless rate that is going to rise: That is what's at stake for France in the coming months," he told RTL radio -- before heading out for a coffee at a restaurant near the Place de la Bastille in Paris. In the capital, officials have closed off several streets so that bars and restaurants can install more outdoor seating, and are allowing owners to spread out more on sidewalks and even in some parking spaces. Parks and beaches reopened over the weekend, and more classes in primary and middle schools are now welcoming some students countrywide, as well as high schools in the so-called "green zones" were the outbreak has been contained. But class size has been limited to just 15 students, meaning thousands of children still have to work from home. Public gatherings of more than 10 people remain banned until June 21, and people still have to wear masks in public transport and in the vast majority of stores. Scores of retailers have installed plexiglass barriers at checkouts, and are employing security agents to ensure clients use hand gel before entering. France's StopCovid mobile app, a voluntary system that will alert users if they have been in close proximity of someone who has tested positive for the virus, will also be made available starting Tuesday. burs-mlr-js/ach
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