France’s highest constitutional body on Thursday, August 5, approved the measures proposed by the government to extend the use of the health pass to a wider range of public locations, and make vaccination for health workers mandatory. The Constitutional Council said that health pass measures comply with the constitution.

To tackle the spread of more infectious Covid-19 variants, the government proposed in July that people wishing to enter cafes, restaurants, gyms, shopping centres and even hospitals (except for emergencies), would have to show a certificate proving they had been fully vaccinated, tested negative, or recently recovered from coronavirus.

It also threw out a provision that would permit employers to dismiss employees on fixed-term or temporary contracts who do not have the health pass. The new restrictions, voted by Parliament last month and due to come into effect on August 9, have sparked public anger. While the executive argues that the new rules are needed to contain the highly contagious Delta variant and prevent fresh national lockdowns, critics say the measures are an attack on people's personal freedoms.

France is currently facing a fourth wave of the pandemic, triggered by the Delta variant. The country has logged 6,298,649 Covid-19 cases since the start of the pandemic, while the death toll stood at 112,282.

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