France:Covid pass mandatory for tourist spots, leisure activities

France announced Wednesday that visitors will need a COVID-19 pass to visit tourist venues such as the Eiffel Tower as cases in the country begin to rise. The new requirement comes after cases are starting to soar in the country and the Delta variant accounts for 96% of new cases, France's Health Minister Olivier Véran said. From the next month, the order says, the new COVID-19 pass is required at entry for any leisure activity where more than 50 people are gathered. The pass can be paper or digital and contains a person's vaccination certificate or negative COVID-19 test. Leisure activities or tourist venues include museums, movie theaters, swimming pools, festivals, theme parks, shopping malls, bars, cafés, restaurants and concerts.

France has opened to international tourists this summer, but the rules vary depending on which country they are coming from. While visitors are trickling back to Paris, their numbers have been far from normal levels, given continued border restrictions and virus risks. The French government wants to rush the expanded pass requirement bill through the Parliament. Prime Minister Jean Castex said on Wednesday that the government will seek approval from the constitutional court, which will also take time. Castex urging his compatriots to sign up for vaccine injections to avoid new lockdowns. France’s 18,000 new coronavirus cases reported Tuesday, 96% involved people who were unvaccinated, he said. France’s daily Covid-19 infections dropped sharply in the spring but have shot up again over the past two weeks. Some regions are re-imposing virus restrictions. The government is worried that pressure will grow on hospitals again in the coming weeks. France has registered more than 111,000 virus-related deaths. Overall 46% of the population is fully vaccinated.