The French government outlined plans on Thursday to gradually reopen the country starting in early May, stoking hopes that life might finally return to something close to normal after more than a year of on-and-off pandemic restrictions.

Prime Minister Jean Castex said at a news conference that primary school students would be allowed to return to classrooms on Monday, followed by middle and high school students the following week. Travel restrictions will be lifted on May 3.

Depending on how things are going at that point, Mr. Castex said, retail stores, outdoor dining, and certain cultural and sporting activities could start to reopen in mid-May.

The pandemic situation appears to be improving in France, with the daily average number of new cases falling to about 32,000 from 42,000 the week before. Hospitalizations seem to have plateaued at nearly 6,000.

“The peak of the third wave seems to be behind us,” Mr. Castex said.

The government is hoping to alleviate the deep sense of pandemic fatigue that has taken root in France. When the country went into its third lockdown at the start of April, once again closing schools and “nonessential” retail stores, the move was met with anger and some pointed protests.

Hundreds of lingerie shops across France, closed under the lockdown order, have been mailing panties to Mr. Castex since the beginning of the week, as part of a campaign called “Action Culottée,” meaning “cheeky action,” which was coordinated on Facebook.

The country’s vaccination campaign, which stumbled for months, has gathered speed recently, and is now administering about 2.5 million doses a week. More than 13 million people have received at least one dose so far, and the country aims to raise the figure to 20 million — 30 percent of the population — by mid-May. Even so, France lags far behind countries like the United States, Britain and Israel in its vaccination efforts.

To limit the spread of highly transmissible virus variants, Mr. Castex said, France will tighten testing and quarantine requirements for travelers arriving from five countries — Brazil, Chile, Argentina, South Africa and India — where the variants are circulating widely.

— Constant Méheut and Gaëlle Fournier