France increases pressure on unvaccinated amid record Covid infections

People cross the Champs Elysees avenue in Paris (Thibault Camus/AP)

France’s government is forging ahead with efforts to increase pressure on unvaccinated people to get coronavirus shots, as the country reported 208,000 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday – a record fuelled by the Omicron variant.

Health minister Olivier Veran defended a government plan to allow only the fully vaccinated to enjoy continued access to places such as restaurants, cinemas, theatres, museums and sports arenas.