The upper house of the French parliament has also approved new corona measures, including law for the vaccination pass. This will soon become mandatory for people over 18 if they want to visit restaurants, cafes, events or performances.

Those who have recently recovered are also eligible for such a pass. A negative test certificate is no longer sufficient.

For flights and public transport over longer distances, the pass will also become mandatory, although exceptions are possible. 249 senators voted in favour and 63 against. The lower house had agreed after days of debate earlier this month. The government wants to use the measures to counter the wave of omikron infections and to persuade the 5 million unvaccinated to get a shot.

The Senate determined that the rules only apply if there are more than 10,000 corona patients in hospitals. There are now about 24,000. The senators also established that restaurateurs are not required to verify the identities of their guests; that is the job of the police.

The vaccination pass replaces the corona pass (sanitary pass), which has also been widely protested. President Emmanuel Macron has recently been criticized for his statements that he wants to make life so difficult for unvaccinated people to be still vaccinated. He called this group irresponsible and unworthy to be called French citizens.

Nearly 362,000 new infections were diagnosed in France on Wednesday.