Emmanuel Macron offers France partial end to lockdown in May but no open borders

France's President, Emmanuel Macron, set his sights on May 11 for easing the coronavirus lockdown, but said the French people would remain behind barriers and closed borders for months for years to come.

In a televised speech on Monday night, watched by 36.7 million people for an audience share of 94 per cent, Mr Macron said some institutions, such as schools, could reopen but many safeguards would remain.

"On May 11, it will be a question of allowing as many people as possible to return to work, to restart our industry, our businesses and our services," he said.

But French borders would largely remain closed “until further notice”.

As a result, the country’s headline summer event, the cycling Tour de France, was postponed on Tuesday.

Additional support would be made available for the tourism industry and others that faced a prolonged shutdown.

Mr Macron admitted to failures in sourcing life-saving equipment and indicated that the post-crisis economy would need to tilt away from globalisation.

“We will have to rebuild our economy stronger in order to produce and give full hope to our employees, our entrepreneurs, to keep our financial independence,” he said.

“We will have to rebuild French agricultural, health, industrial and technological independence and ensure more strategic autonomy for Europe.”

Mr Macron's announcement echoed forecasts from economists that developed economies would emerge from the crisis keen to rebuild domestic supply chains.

"The direct disruption of the pandemic has highlighted the need to secure critical supplies like food, medical supplies and core inputs [such as power sources] and components," a briefing note from ING Bank read.

"On top of this, the societal and cultural shock of the pandemic is likely to spark the development of local networks and communities.

"In this respect, accelerated development of new technologies such as 3D printing may facilitate the localisation of production."

French officials on Tuesday said that people should not plan on booking summer holidays.

“Without a guarantee of being able to protect the French by reopening the borders, we will not do so," said Christophe Castaner, Minister of Interior.

"I would advise my family – I don't have to advise the French on their vacation – not to rush into reservations, especially in foreign countries."

It was likely that those given permission to leave home would have to wear masks. Even the reopening of schools would be staggered and partial.

Jean-Michel Blanquer, Minister of Education, said the return to class on May 11  would be an opportunity to teach children how to stay safe in the face of disease.

“It is obvious that everything will not happen overnight,” Mr Blanquer said. "Not everyone will be back on May 11, that's for sure.

"We can imagine that part of the lessons are done in small groups and the rest is done online for high school students, for example.”

A mixed picture of the coronavirus pandemic was still emerging around Europe, with some countries, including Italy, experimenting with opening up and others extending emergency measures.

The number of daily coronavirus-related deaths increased in Spain, where another 567 deaths were recorded in 24 hours, taking the epidemic total to 18,056.

Official figures showed deaths involving Covid-19 in England were running 15 per cent higher than the number reported by the National Health Service.

The Office for National Statistics said 5,979 deaths up to April 3 had been registered by April 11. That compared with the 5,186 reported by NHS England.

Meanwhile, coronavirus cases in Germany registered their smallest increase so far this month as the infection curve appeared to be flattening.

Germany reported a drop in new cases for a fifth day in a row, lifting hopes that the peak of the crisis has been reached.

The daily increase in infections of 2,218 was the lowest this month and took the total to 130,072, figures from Johns Hopkins University showed.

Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said Germany might soon decide to lift some restrictions.

“We have seen some successes the past few days,” Mr Altmeier said.