French nightclubs will be able to re-open from July 9 onwards - minister

French President Emmanuel Macron, flanked by French Culture Minister Roselyne Bachelot and French Junior Minister of Small and Medium Entreprises Alain Griset, attends a meeting with nightclubs owners, at the Elysee Palace, in Paris, France June 21, 2021. Ludovic Marin/Pool via REUTERS

French nightclubs will be allowed to re-open from July 9 onwards, said government minister Alain Griset, allowing the industry to operate again for the first time since it was shut during the France's COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020.

France eased its third nationwide lockdown - meant to rein in the coronavirus outbreak - last month with the reopening of terraces on May 19. Earlier in June, restaurants, bars and cafes were allowed to reopen for indoor service for the first time in seven months.

More than 100 nightclubs out of 1,600 in France have closed permanently due to the COVID pandemic crisis, according to hospitality trade union UMIH.

FILE PHOTO: A view shows the bar inside the High Club, a nightclub closed since a year due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in Nice, France, March 15, 2021. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard

(Reporting by Elizabeth Pineau and Michel Rose; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)