France will start relaxing a nightly curfew and allow cafes, bars and restaurants to offer outside service from May 19, reported regional newspapers, as President Emmanuel Macron charts a way out of a third Covid-19 lockdown.

Macron, who is under pressure from business groups and a Covid-weary public to open up the economy again, announced in an interview with the regional papers a multi-phase plan for unwinding France's month-long stay-at-home order.

The plan envisages the nightly curfew being scrapped completely on June 30. Museums, cinemas and theatres will also be allowed to reopen on May 19. Foreign tourists with a "health pass" will be allowed to visit France again from June 9, according to the timetable published by Ouest France and other newspapers.