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French breath sigh of relief following lockdown

Cafes and restaurants in France receive customers
Cafes and restaurants in France receive customers
By Mariam Al-Zanki PARIS, June 2 (KUNA) -- France witnessed on Tuesday start of the second phase of gradual process for restoring gradual life after full lockdown imposed in middle of March.
The lockdown had been enforced due to outbreak of the highly contagious pandemic, the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), which appeared in China late last year and snowballed, creeping into many countries worldwide in following months.
Restaurants and cafes today started receiving customers amid strict health precautions.
Each restaurant or cafe can host 10 persons wearing face masks for a large table provided that each group keeps a meter from another.
Most beaches are open too, in line with the authorities' decision to ease off the coronavirus warranted constraints. However, residents of each region cannot travel for more than 100 kilometers.
French economy is forecast to recover following the suffocating lockdown that has brought most businesses to a standstill.
Meanwhile, figures released by the ministry of health indicate drop of the daily cases' trajectory.
France began the first phase of easing the restrictions on May 11, amid stringent health precautions and concerns a second wave of the breakout might recur.
The European nation was one of the countries hardest hit with the pandemic in the continent, with a total of 189,220 cases and 28,833 deaths.
Aware of the tremendous losses incurred in economic and financial sectors, several European nations are loosening the rigid measures in a bid to trim the heavy losses. (end) mjz.rk