Fourth Wave Of COVID-19 In France: Delta Variant Dominates, Vaccine Certificate Becomes Requirement For Public Facilities

Illustration of a vaccination center in France. (Wikimedia Commons/Claude Truong-Ngoc)

JAKARTA - French authorities have tightened conditions for accessing public facilities, along with the country's fourth wave of COVID-19, which is dominated by the Delta variant.

In an interview with TF1 television, French Prime Minister Jean Castex said Wednesday that major steps taken to tackle the country's fourth wave of infections had been completed by a government cabinet meeting.

"We are in the fourth wave. The Delta variant is the most, the more contagious," Castex said as quoted by Reuters on Wednesday, July 21.

In its announcement on Monday, the French government adjusted a number of policies related to the fourth wave of COVID-19. These include the obligation to show health documents such as vaccine certificates and negative COVID-19 test results in the near future in various public places, to requiring vaccinations for health workers.

Managers of public facilities who do not pay attention to the issue of vaccine certificates or negative results of COVID-19 tests for consumers will be subject to fines starting from 1,500 euros. The value will increase progressively for repeated violations.

Health documents are required in public places such as cinemas, bars, restaurants, including for hospitals, as well as long-distance train and airplane travel. Visitors to museums, cinemas or swimming pools in France will be denied entry from today, if they are unable to present documents proving they have received a COVID-19 vaccination or have tested negative recently.

Health cards, previously only required for large-scale festivals or to go clubbing, will also be required from early August to enter restaurants and bars and for long-distance train and plane travel, as authorities try to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The new rules took the French by surprise.

"I was really angry. I don't know. But then I calmed down and understood there was a health reason," said Nelly Breton, 51, after being turned away from the Louvre museum in Paris, France, adding that she would now look for a pharmacy to get a quick test. COVID-19.

Even though more than 100,000 people opposed this last weekend in demonstrations, this policy was still enforced by the French government. However, under the new rules document holders can remove their masks once indoors.

For information, according to Worldometers Negeri Mode, a total of 5,890,062 cases of infection were recorded, with 111,525 deaths and 5,663,776 patients declared cured since last year's pandemic.