France has rolled out a new COVID-19 health pass amid a surge in infections which has prompted warnings the country is in the grip of a fourth wave of the pandemic.
From Wednesday, people wanting to visit cinemas, museums, sports matches and other cultural venues will now be required to show proof of vaccination against COVID-19, a negative test, or recent recovery from the virus.
The health pass will be extended in August to patrons of restaurants, cafés and shopping centres.
The certification scheme forms part of various new measures announced by President Emmanuel Macron on July 12 to curtail the transmission of coronavirus, representing some of the toughest anti-COVID measures in effect in Europe.
The initial COVID-19 pass rules were implemented by decree. Legislators will get to vote on the planned extension of the scheme to cover other settings.
Macron’s strategy will also see vaccinations become mandatory for healthcare workers from September 15 onwards.
The health pass came into effect after Health Minister Olivier Veran warned on Tuesday of an unprecedented increase in COVID-19 cases nationwide, with more than 18,000 new infections recorded in the preceding 24 hours.
“That means we have an increase in the spread of the virus of around 150 percent in the last week: we’ve never seen that,” Veran told the French Parliament.
The rising caseload has been fuelled by the rapid spread of the highly infectious Delta variant of the coronavirus, first detected in India.
On Monday, authorities cautioned the uptick meant France had officially entered a fourth wave of infections.