Macron says worst of second wave over as he announces loosening of coronavirus restrictions

President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday night unveiled a three-phase lockdown exit starting with the reopening of all shops starting this weekend.

Phase one, which starts next Saturday morning, will see all shops reopen, along with bookstores, libraries, and home services. Religious ceremonies will be authorised for up to 30 people. The French will be able to move up to 20km from their home for three hours, as opposed to one kilometre for an hour currently.

However, they will continue to have to fill out forms to go out and homeworking remains the rule.

Phase two will start on December 15 if the number of daily cases is under 5,000 per day and the number of patients in intensive care has fallen to 2,500-3000. It is currently at 4,300.

No more authorisations will be required to move from one region to another and the French will "be able to spend Christmas en famille" even if this will "not be Christmas like any other," he said.

School outings and extra-curricular activities outside can start up again, and cinemas, theatres and museums reopen with strict health prototols.

However, a 9pm to 7am curfew will be installed. Big gatherings, along with amusement parks and bars and restaurants and night clubs, will remain forbidden.

Ski resorts will not be reopened until mid-January, he said, adding: "We will coordinate with our European neighbours."

Mr Macron said that on Christmas and New Year families could go out in small groups but public gatherings would not be tolerated.

Phase three will start on January 20 if infections and hospitalisations continue to fall. At that stage, sports halls and restaurants can reopen and the curfew will be lifted.

All pupils will be able return to school as opposed to the half-classes currently in place.

Mr Macron asked as many as people as possible to download the AntiCovid tracing app, which has now been installed by 10 million French.

He said that the test, trace and isolate system would be overhauled and that more "restrictive" isolation measures likely installed without providing details over whether those with Covid would be isolated in hotels, for example.

The French president said that the advent of vaccines offered a "wonderful glimmer of hope" and the French strategy was to take "several" - first in December and then a second generation in January.

The first doses will be distributed "as soon as the relevant authorities" give the green light, he said.

The elderly and other "fragile" sectors of society would get the first batches. Faced with a deeply sceptical French population, almost half of whom say they don't want to be vaccinated, he said that this would not be compulsory and  the entire process would be "totally transparent".

Economic support would continue, said Mr Macron, adding that companies that had to remain closed in the coming weeks, including restaurants, could ask for aid up to 20 per cent of their annual turnover if that was more than the current €10,000 already on offer.

France's Covid death toll has surpassed the 50,000 mark, Mr Macron confirmed but he said that the second wave had now peaked.

"We must do everything to avoid a third wave, do everything to avoid a third lockdown," he said.