Paris reopens Louvre after covid-19 lockdown

Louvre reopens in Paris with masks and social distancing.

The Louvre, the world's most visited museum, reopened in Paris on 6 July after a closure of almost four months due to the covid-19 pandemic.

The museum, which had been closed since 13 March, has new anti-contagion measures in place, with masks obligatory and a one-way system to limit contact between people.

Visitor numbers will be reduced, in line with France's social distancing rules, with a controlled flow of people queuing to view Leonardo Da Vinci's famed Mona Lisa painting, reports the BBC.

The Louvre has lost more than €40 million in revenue during the lockdown, according to its director Jean-Luc Martinez who said: "We are losing 80 per cent of our public."

"75 per cent of our visitors were foreigners" - Martinez told the AFP news agency - "We are going to be at best 20-30 per cent down on last summer - between 4,000 and 10,000 visitors a day.

In 2018 the Louvre welcomed more than 10 million visitors, of whom almost three-quarters were foreign tourists.

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