France to savour new lifting of Covid restrictions

In a key new phase of the programme relaxing the lockdown, diners will be able to go inside cafes and restaurants, terrace consumption having already resumed on May 19.

The overnight curfew will now start later -- at 11:00 pm instead of 9:00 pm -- before being dropped entirely if all goes to plan on June 30.

And restrictions at cultural venues, reopened on May 19, are also being eased as a sense of normality returns to France with glorious early summer weather.

"A new step will be taken" on Wednesday, President Emmanuel Macron wrote on Twitter.

"Life will resume across our lands. It is part of our culture, of our art of living, that we are going to reacquaint ourselves with," he said.

Tables of up to six will be permitted at cafes and restaurants while gyms can also reopen for clients indoors.

In virtually all of France however, masks however remain obligatory even out of doors until further notice.

And as of Tuesday more than 28 million people had had at least one vaccine shot -- nearly 43 percent of the population, and 55 percent of the adult population.

Travel to France is also becoming easier, with France from Wednesday fully opening its borders to EU residents.

Travel from other zones including the US and Britain are subject to tighter restrictions but visitors will no longer have to prove a compelling reason for a visit, so long as they have had the full course of vaccinations.