France began lifting a series of Covid curbs on Wednesday, including mandatory mask wearing outdoors, as the government seeks a return to normality by mid-February.
Prime minister Jean Castex said working from home guidance would be scrapped as well as audience capacity limits on concert halls and sporting matches.
The decision to relax restrictions has proved divisive as the country continues to report high daily infections. On Monday, a total of 399,668 were reported – down from the record high of more than 501,000 last month but nearly 10 times the average being recorded at the beginning of December.
Mr Castex said the return of freedoms had been made possible by the introduction of a new vaccination pass last month, which requires people to show evidence of inoculation and not just previous infection.
They are required to travel on public transport and enter restaurants, bars and events.
The government will also lift restrictions on nightclubs, shut since December, on February 16. Standing areas will also reopen at concerts, sporting events and bars.
French ministers insist that the threat of the Omicron variant is limited given its reduced severity, despite the country recording Europe’s highest daily case toll.
Last month, Mr Castex said the country was entering “a new phase of the epidemic” in which vaccine certification would play a key role.
"We have seen a weak reversal of the trend over the past few days, with fewer cases declared each day than seven days earlier," government spokesman Gabriel Attal told France Info radio on Tuesday.
France recorded an average of 355,256 cases over the previous seven days, compared with 366,179 a week ago.
Mr Attal said the drop was “very encouraging” but that officials “remain cautious” due to the emergence of a “very contagious” sub-variant of Omicron dubbed BA.2 that is spreading rapidly across the country.
