The French National Assembly approved on Thursday a bill transforming the country’s health pass into a stricter “vaccine pass”.
The bill passed shortly before 5:30 am Paris time with 214 votes against 93, and 27 abstentions.
The vote came three days after tumultuous debates, fuelled by controversial remarks by the French President Emmanuel Macron.
Under the bill, people over 12 years of age must prove their vaccination status to access restaurants and bars, cultural venues, or interregional public transport.
A negative Covid-19 test will no longer be sufficient, except for access to health facilities and services.
The US Britain, France and Australia have recorded unprecedented numbers of Covid cases as officials warn the peak of a fast-spreading Omicron surge is still to come.
A record 1,080,211 cases were reported on Monday in the US. The record number if the highest one-day tally of new cases anywhere in the world.
Britain breached 200,000 cases for the first time on Tuesday, Australia posted almost 50,000 and France registered more than 270,000.
The Omicron variant accounts for the majority of cases in the countries.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has earlier warned of ‘tsunami’ of COVID cases in the near future. The declaration was due to Omicron spread.
