France to loosen COVID curbs in February, allowing popcorn in cinemas again

PARIS, Jan 20 (Reuters) - France will ease work-from-home rules from early February and allow nightclubs to reopen two weeks later as the general COVID-19 situation in the country is starting to improve, Prime Minister Jean Castex said on Thursday.

Caps on the number of people allowed into sports and entertainment venues will also be lifted on Feb. 2, and masks will no longer be required outdoors from that date.

People will also again, from Feb. 16, be allowed to eat popcorn - or other snacks - in cinemas. COVID protocols in schools, which among other things require children to wear masks in class, could be relaxed after the winter holidays.

However a vaccine pass, which requires a certificate of vaccination to enter public venues like restaurants, cafes, cinemas and long-distance trains, will enter into force as planned, Castex said, saying it would be enforced from Jan. 24.

The vaccine pass could be dropped later if the risk to public health from the pandemic eased significantly, he told a news conference. Health Minister Olivier Veran said that would depend on how much pressure hospitals are under.

"The wave linked to the Delta variant is clearly receding everywhere," Castex said. At the same time, the wave caused by the newer Omicron variant "is starting to stall in the regions where this variant first hit at the end of December".

France reported over 425,000 coronavirus infections on Thursday. The number of COVID patients in intensive care has stabilised, leaving the government some room for manoeuvre.