Covid-19 France: Can we meet up with friends?

This depends how many you are planning to be – and where you plan to meet. You must also remain responsible and respect the protective rules, social distancing etc.

The current rules state that if there will be less than 10 in total a group is allowed to meet up in a public space (for a walk for example) and also at a private home.

Groups of more than 10 you are not allowed to meet in any public area. This is the rule in place for the first stage of deconfinement which started on Monday. The second stage of deconfinement is due to start on June 2 but details on gatherings from then have not been released.

France’s Minister of the Interior, Christophe Castaner confirmed yesterday that the ban on gatherings of more than ten people only applies to public areas. However he advises people to be responsible and to avoid large gatherings in small private places.

The Prime Minister, Edouard Philippe, initially announced that gatherings of more than 10 people in public or private places would be prohibited during the first phase of deconfinement, when he presented the plan for this on April 28.

But a decree on the state of health emergency in France, published on Monday, states that the ban only concerns public places and does not apply to homes.

In all situations for any gathering of people, even just two, social distancing measures and barrier gestures should be respected. This involves washing your hands regularly, keeping a distance of one metre between each other, coughing and sneezing into your elbow, and no kissing or hands shaking.