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France expects to lift domestic travel restrictions on May 3

FILE PHOTO: A woman makes her way in the departures area of the Terminal 2E at Charles-de-Gaulle airport in Roissy

PARIS (Reuters) - Domestic travel restrictions imposed to tackle the spread of the COVID-19 virus are expected to be lifted on May 3, the government said on Wednesday after a cabinet meeting.

Government spokesman Gabriel Attal also said that President Emmanuel Macron's administration was sticking to a base case scenario of bars and restaurants to re-open outdoor seatings by mid-May.

"On May 3, it is expected that travel restrictions will be lifted", he told reporters.

The French government has also decided to order COVID-19 tests for travellers coming from India, Attal said, in a bid to prevent the spread of a coronavirus variant.

The prime minister's office on Saturday said the country would order a strict 10-day quarantine for all travellers coming from Brazil starting April 24.

The office added that same measures would gradually be put in place by April 24 for people returning from Argentina, Chile and South Africa, where the presence of other coronavirus variants were detected.

(Reporting by Michel Rose; Writing by Matthieu Protard; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta, William Maclean)