LISBON, Portugal — A half-million children are going back to school in Portugal as the southern European country continues to ease more of its pandemic measures.

On Monday, children up to 15 years old returned to classes for the first time since the lockdown came into force in January, when Portugal was the worst-hit country in the world by size of population.

Cafe and restaurant esplanades also reopened with a maximum of four people sitting together.

Museums and national monuments, small streetside stores and gyms opened their doors again, too, though with some limits on capacity.

Mainland Portugal’s 14-day incidence rate of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people has fallen to 63. At the end of January, it was 1,628.

The country’s intensive care units had more than 900 patients in early February but now are looking after 117.