With summer around the corner, Europeans reclaim cafes, parks and beaches abandoned – but not forgotten – during months of lockdown to check the spread of coronavirus. With borders mostly still closed, Europe is naturally anxious to ease lockdowns and gradually welcome tourists. At the same time they remain mindful of the risks that come with a relaxation of regulations. Here’s the latest.

Brussels

In Brussels, it was like a switch went off, an instant spring bloom. Almost from one day to the next, the city’s Cinquantenaire park was filled with people lured by sunny skies and warm temperatures in the normally rainy European capital. After not being permitted to loiter in the park under lockdown, which started March 13, people spread out blankets and chatted, listened to music and sipped refreshments at the first whiff of freedom. Nearby, the sportier played volleyball, soccer and Frisbee. Very few wore masks – as if to say, after two months of restrictions, we have no fear.

Germany

Everyone knows that it takes two to tango – but German rules only allow tango partners to touch if they are real-life partners off the dance floor. Even though dance studios opened Berlin on June 2, Tango lovers must dance alone, or maintain 1 1/2-meter (5-foot) distance from their partners. That simply doesn’t work, as demonstrated June 3 in a peaceful, rhythmic protest outside the German Chancellery.

France

In Paris, a return to “real life” was marked by the opening of the famed French institution: the cafe. Tiny round tables that spent months in stacks were spread out at a new generous distance of one-meter (three feet). Celebrating the new era on June 2, people gathered in chatty cliques, scooching extra chairs around the tiny tables, with colorful drinks glinting in the slanting sunshine. Masks were not de rigueur.

Greece

Greece will gradually lift all restrictions on Italian tourists entering the country by the end of the month, Greece’s foreign minister said Tuesday. Rome had been angered by its exclusion from a list of 29 countries whose citizens Athens had initially announced would be allowed into Greece from June 15 without compulsory coronavirus tests or quarantines.

The Greek government later clarified tourists would be allowed to enter without restrictions if they arrived from airports – rather than countries – that were not on a European air safety agency list of those considered high risk regarding the virus.

Greece has said tourists can fly to Athens or the main northern city of Thessaloniki from June 15, while international flights can land at regional airports across the country from July 1. Visitors arriving from airports not on the European air safety agency list of at-risk regions will be subjected to random spot coronavirus tests only and will not face the mandatory testing and quarantine currently in place for all international travellers.

Greece has confirmed just over 3,000 cases and 182 deaths. The country is highly dependent on tourism, which accounts for around 20% of its economy, and is hoping to salvage what is left of the summer tourist season by promoting itself as a safe destination.

Italy

Italians were the first Europeans to under lockdown in early March. Measures only began to ease in early May with more freedom of movement locally, followed by a gradual opening of shops, bars and restaurants. One of the first museums to reopen was the Galleria Borghese in Rome with its famed statuary collection. Without the usual rush of tourists, visitors have been able to take in the art in relative solitude – with just 80 people allowed in at a time.

Italy registered 280 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours to Monday, with over one-third of those in the hardest-hit region of Lombardy. Italy’s total confirmed number of positives has reached 235,278 – although experts believe the actual number is much higher as only certain groups, such as nursing home residents, medical personnel and people with serious symptoms, are being tested. Civil protection recorded 65 more coronavirus deaths, raising the total to 33,964.

Most Italian regions are showing either no cases or new positives in the single digits. Lombardy is the only region with triple-digit positives, with the next closest region, Emilia Romagna, adding just 20.

Spain and Morocco

The Spanish government says authorities in Morocco and other countries share its concern that the more than 3 million residents of Europe who visit North Africa every summer could contribute to a dangerous spread of the new coronavirus.

Government spokeswoman Maria Jesus Montero says Spain is discussing with other governments how to best approach public health and the passenger ferries that turn the Strait of Gibraltar into a busy gateway to and from Africa.

Over 3.3 million people, most of them Moroccans residing in Spain, France, Belgium, Netherlands and Italy, travelled last year in some 760,000 vehicles to visit relatives and friends back home during the summer holiday.

The southern Spanish port of Algeciras and northern Morocco’s Tangier, where Europe and Africa come closest, see most of the ferry traffic.

While countries around the world closed their borders to foreigners to keep out the virus, Morocco also barred its own citizens from returning home.

When people gathered on a beach in Barcelona, police officers were patrolling to ensure that social distancing was observed. Under their gaze, people sunbathed, stretched and waded into the surf. An officer wore a mask and latex gloves; beachgoers had very little obvious protection, perhaps just some SPF.

Baleric Islands

Spain’s Balearic Islands will allow for thousands of German tourists to arrive Monday for a two-week trial of tourism under new restrictions.

The trial precedes the opening of borders to international tourism in July. Tourism generates 12% of Spain’s gross domestic product and provides 2.6 million jobs.

Portugal

Portuguese authorities will allow shopping malls in the Lisbon region to reopen next Monday, even though most new coronavirus infections in recent days have emerged there. Prime Minister Antonio Costa announced Tuesday that the shopping mall restriction will be lifted in the Lisbon metropolitan area two weeks after the rest of the country.

The health ministry said 92% of the country’s 421 new cases Tuesday were in the Lisbon area. In recent days, more than 70% of new cases have been recorded there.

Officials say they have identified the hot spots in low-income areas and that an increase in testing there is revealing new cases. The prime minister said he expects the national state of calamity, introduced to help stem the outbreak, to end July 1.

Portugal has officially reported 35,306 cases and almost 1,500 deaths.