Luxembourg to reopen, cafes, resturants on Wednesday

Luxembourg will ease its coronavirus restrictions on Wednesday, reopening cafes and restaurants and allowing civil and religious ceremonies under strict conditions, the government announced.

The tiny country has so far registered only 3,993 COVID-19 cases, of which 110 have been fatal. Four people are in intensive care and shops were closed on March 18 to slow the spread of the new coronavirus.

Prime Minister Xavier Bettel told a news conference on Monday that eateries could reopen terraces with a maximum of four people at a single table.

Indoor dining in cafes and restaurants will resume on Friday, he said, with social distancing of 1.5 metres (five feet) between groups.

Marriages and funerals will also be allowed if the attendees wore face masks and kept two metres distance from each other.

Bettel however said cafes and restaurants would have to close at midnight.

Francois Koepp, the general secretary of the Horeca federation grouping hotels, restaurants and cafes, welcomed the announcement, saying the sector had “greatly suffered from the confinement”.

He said it provided employment to some 21,000 people in this nation of 620,000 inhabitants.

Cinema theatres and gyms will open at the end of the week but children’s parks will remain closed.

The government has pledged to give every citizen over 16 a voucher worth 50 euros ( $54) to spend in hotels to provide a boost to the sector.

The vouchers will also be given to some 200,000 cross border workers from Belgium, France and Germany.