Second phase to the end of lockdown in France - As France starts its second phase of the end of lockdown today, Tuesday June 2nd, the situation in the hospitals of the Alpes Maritimes and the Var remains stable according to the regional health agency.
For the third consecutive day, there were no new deaths from coronavirus in the region.
109 people are still hospitalised in the Alpes Maritimes 7 are in intensive care and in the Var 140 people remain in hospital and 8 are in intensive care.
Since the start of the epidemic, Covid-19 has claimed 249 lives in the Alpes-Maritimes and 224 in the Var.
Reopening of restaurants, bars and beaches – As part of the easing of lockdown measures, marking this 2nd phase, from today many restaurants, bars and private beaches in the region are set to reopen. Some will, however, wait until the weekend or the middle of next week.
In Nice four of the fourteen private beaches will reopen today the Opera plage, Beau Rivage, Le Galet and the Blue Beach. Others are waiting for the weekend.
Full list beaches reopening from Menton to Cannes:
In Menton, the majority of private beaches will not reopen before Friday, June 5th. Only the Da Mitchou and La Pergola beaches will resume their activity from today. Hélios plage will reopen on Saturday 6th June.
Meanwhile in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, Le Fanal beach is to reopen today.
In Èze, Papaya Beach will reopen on Friday 5th and Anjuna Beach plans to open on Saturday 6th June.
In Villefranche-sur-Mer, Les Bains Déli Bo beach and its restaurant will reopen on Wednesday. In Beaulieu, Anao plage opens this Friday, June 5th.
In Beaulieu The Royal Riviera beach will resume activity with the hotel after June 20th. As for the Petite Afrique, they are to reopen from next week. In Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, Paloma Beach opens on June 5. Passable Beach opens the beach and the restaurant on June 4.
In Saint-Laurent-du-Var, the Beach Club des Flots bleus reopens on Thursday, June 4. While the Holiday Inn hotel and beach will remain closed, reopening in early July.
In Cagnes-sur-Mer, Cigalon Plage and the Carré Bleu restaurant will open today.
In Villeneuve-Loubet, La Playa opens today Tuesday 2nd June. Others are expected to open their doors in the coming week.
In Cap d'Antibes, the restaurant Le Cesar with the private beach Le Keller will open from today.
In Golfe-Juan, the So Beach will be open to the public from today. Other beaches such as the, Pascalin Plage, the Cabins and the Petite Plage, will reopen on June 4, 5 and 6 respectively. Jimbaran Beach will open on June 4th, while Le Vieux Rocher and Bocado will open on June 6th.
In Cannes, a majority of private beaches will reopen today including the Goéland, Mademoiselle Gray, Martinez beach, Annex Beach, Belle Plage, Alba, Ondine, Mandala, Môme Plage, and the Hyde Beach (Le Grand Hotêl).
The Carlton Beach is scheduled to reopen at the end of June.
In Mandelieu, The Sweet will reopen today Tuesday, June 2.
Monaco reopens - Meanwhile Monaco too, will see a number of places reopen from the “Condamine Market” (outside only), for those wishing to lie in the sun the “Solarium beach” and the famous Café de Paris will open its doors at 10.30am this morning with the inauguration of the new “Place du Casino”.
All customers are reminded that bookings are compulsory for those wishing to eat, along with respecting social distancing and health measures which have been put in place.
Parisian bars, cafes and restaurants reopen terraces - Meanwhile Parisian bars, cafés and restaurants will be able to expand their terraces on to pavements and streets from today as they reopen for the first time since closing in mid-March.
In the Paris region, which the government considers to be vulnerable to new infections, establishments are only allowed to open their terraces.
In response, city officials are allowing bars, cafés and restaurants to expand their terraces onto sidewalks and even close roads in some areas.
Testing for coronavirus Monaco - The Monaco government has announced the latest figures for coronavirus testing in the Principality following the national testing campaign, which was launched two weeks ago.
16,200 people have been screened, which is about 43% of the population. 2.7% of serological tests were positive.
From today, Tuesday, June 2nd, the Monaco government will start screening the 50,000 people who work in the Principality. The free tests take place between 7:30 am and 6:00 pm at the Grimaldi Forum and will be done in alphabetical order, today starting with surnames beginning with the letter A and B. The government is encouraging as many people as possible to get tested. Residents who have not been able to be tested so far and who wish to do so, can go without an appointment to the Grimaldi Forum during opening hours.
All screening is voluntary and confidential: the results are only communicated to the person tested.
Meanwhile children living in Monaco, under the age of 5, will be able to benefit from Covid-19 screening on Wednesday, June 3rd, from 1:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. For more info on www.covid19.mc.
Nice testing - Meanwhile free testing for the residents of Nice is to be made available from next week with residents invited to register online from Monday June 8th.
Parking - Several municipalities across the Riviera are ending free parking for motorists which has been in place since the beginning of confinement. Free parking is ending in Frejus today. Charges will be reintroduced for on-street parking and car parks after almost 3 months of parking without charge in the town. Saint Laurent du Var is maintaining free parking in several areas until the end of this month, but parking meters in the centre of the town will be reactivated as from tomorrow. Beaulieu sur Mer reactivated its parking meters last Friday.
Two men stabbed during violent dispute - In other news, two men have been seriously injured after a violent row in Nice. The incident occurred between two neighbours in the République district on Monday afternoon.
Police and emergency services intervened shortly after 3.30pm. The men aged 52 and 68 years old had stabbed one another in the head.
Complaints filed for cyber harassment - Twenty women in France have filed a complaint for cyber harassment after receiving messages of insults and death threats on Curiouscat messaging.
Curiouscat is a social network platform, which allows you to exchange messages anonymously. The complaints filed come from Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Angers, Chartres, Avignon, Tours and Béziers as well as from the Paris region. All have reported to having received hundreds of threats and insults overnight. An investigation has been opened.
Business
Asian markets have made small gains this morning as investors focus on a global economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.
In the background though is rattling unease over Chinese-US relations as well as the racial unrest that’s hit many major US cities since the death in police custody of African-American George Floyd last week.
US stock futures have turned negative this morning after President Trump threatened to send in the military to end violent protests in cities including New York ,Washington DC ,Los Angeles and Philadelphia.
Markets are also concerned about deteriorating relations between Washington and Beijing following reports that China is to halt US soybean purchases and the possibility of a fresh round of tariffs on Chinese goods from the United States in response to Beijing’s new Hong Kong legislation.
Global stock markets have rallied by some 36 percent since the start of the coronavirus crisis on hopes of a swift recovery from the pandemic that’s killed hundreds of thousands of people and crushed growth in major economies.
Facebook staff have walked off the job and taken to Twitter to criticise Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg of failing to take action over the posts of US President Donald Trump.
While Twitter has flagged some of Mr Trump’s tweets for breaking its terms on advocating violence ,there has been no similar action so far from Facebook.
Dozens of Facebook employees have directly criticised Mr Zuckerberg on Twitter and other social media platforms including some top managers.
Thousands of Facebook employees have taken part in the protest and Mr Zuckeberg is reported to be moving his weekly question-and-answer session from Friday to today in response.
And-A United Nations agency has backed coronavirus flight safety recommendations for governments around the world.
The new guidelines are designed to protect passengers and workers from the Covid-19 virus as lockdowns ease and include limiting or suspending food and drink services on short-haul flights and restricting access to toilets.
The International Civil Aviation Organisation says that airlines could see revenues plunge by 392 billion dollars this year as companies struggle with falling passenger numbers and limited flights.
The guidelines also recommend that passengers should travel as light as possible with small hand luggage stowed under seats.Newspapers and magazines should be removed and duty free sales should be temporarily halted.
Sport
Football-Liverpool players have sent a message of support to African-Americans and other racial minorities in the United States following the death in police custody last week of George Floyd.
Players ‘took the knee’ around the centre circle at Anfield with a photo-caption “Unity is Strength” #blackLivesMatter.
Many leading sports stars have been highly vocal about Mr Floyd’s death including the Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton and the basketball legend Michael Jordan.
Tiger Woods said that the death of Mr Floyd was a “shocking tragedy” which “crossed the line” while the boxer Floyd Mayweather said that he would pay for Mr Floyd’s funeral.
Cricket-The England fast bowler Liam Plunkett has said that he would be open to playing for the United States in the future.
The 35 year old ,whose wife is American hasn’t played for England since winning the World Cup last summer and was not in the 55 man party asked to return to training last week.
He said that it would be nice to be involved in Cricket in America.
The USA earned one day international status last year and have a number of international players at their disposal including the former West Indies batsman Xavier Marshall and the Hampshire all-rounder Ian Holland.
Rugby Union-Rugby Australia is to let a third of its staff go to mitigate the financial impact of the coronavirus.
47 staff will leave their positions over the coming months and a further 30 contractors and casual workers have had their contracts cancelled with immediate effect.
Other staff are to take a 5 percent pay cut and Rugby Australia will reduce its wage bill by 5.5 million Australian dollars annually.
Rugby Australia said that it had been an incredibly difficult decision to let staff go but that it had no choice.
Weather
Partially cloudy in coastal areas-some thunderstorms inland this afternoon.
Light to moderate south westerly winds and highs of 23-25 degrees.
Overnight lows of 17 degrees on the coast and 14 degrees inland with clear skies.
Wednesday and Thursday-Fine in coastal areas ,unsettled inland tomorrow.Rain across the region on Thursday ,clearing during the afternoon.Highs of 21-24 degrees.
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