Almost one million French citizens booked appointments for their first vaccine dose after President Emmanuel Macron announced new COVID-19 guidelines to visit bars and cafes. Starting in August, anyone hoping to spend time in bars, cafes, or shopping centers will have to provide a “health pass” to show that they’ve been vaccinated or recently tested negative for COVID-19, Macron said. On Monday, the medical platform Doctolib announced there was “an absolute record” of new appointments made after Macron’s decree, with hundreds of thousands more appointments being booked on Tuesday. With the delta variant spreading fast, Macron called vaccination “the only path to return to a normal life.” It was also announced that COVID tests will no longer be free starting in the fall, unless prescribed by a doctor. New lockdown orders were not issued, however, with Macron stating that people will have to “live with the virus” at least through 2022.
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