Great response to the Corona address by French President Emmanuel Macron: After the head of state announced mandatory vaccination for health workers and restrictions for non-immunized people on television, the French booked almost a million vaccination appointments, as the online booking site Doctolib announced on Tuesday.

Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) ruled out compulsory vaccination according to the French model, regardless of the highly contagious Delta variant.

Within a few hours of Macron's speech on Monday evening at 8 p.m., 926,000 new vaccination appointments were made in France, as Doctolib boss Stanislas Niox-Chateau told the broadcaster BFM-TV. Especially under 35-year-olds were convinced: They accounted for almost two thirds of the bookings. So far, 40 percent of the French population has been fully vaccinated, but the rate is very low among younger people.

More than 22 million people watched the presidential address on television, according to the figures from several broadcasters.

Macron had almost twice as many viewers as the final of the European Football Championship on Sunday.

According to Macron, all employees in health and care facilities and old people's homes must be vaccinated by mid-September.

Otherwise a work ban threatens.

The model is Italy, where this has been the case since May.

Flexible arrangements for minors

At the same time, access to indoor spaces, such as restaurants or bars, is made more difficult in France for those who are not immunized.

But even on long train or air trips, in shopping centers or hospitals, a health passport will be mandatory from August, which provides information about a vaccination, a survived corona infection or a negative test.

So far, such evidence has been the exception in France, for example in the recently reopened discos. Because of the new rules, tourists have to expect additional costs: Since July 7, foreigners have to pay at least 25 euros for corona tests in France. For minors, however, the new rules are to be interpreted flexibly, as government spokesman Gabriel Attal announced. It is out of the question to force a "terrible summer" on young people up to the age of 18, he said. For example, negative corona tests for young people could last longer than 48 hours.

Health Minister Olivier Véran defended the new measures.

They are not meant as “blackmail” to force people to vaccinate.

Rather, the primary goal of the government is to prevent a new lockdown.

Nevertheless, there was criticism: Theater and cinema operators spoke of a severe blow, as from July 21 they were only allowed to admit those who had been immunized or who tested negative.

The French government also initiated new night curfews for the overseas territories of Martinique and La Réunion.

In addition, Tunisia was placed on the “red list” of countries to which non-vaccinated people are only allowed to travel for valid reasons.

With the tightened measures, France is reacting to the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant. The new infections have recently increased "by 60 percent within a week," said government spokesman Attal. The seven-day incidence in France was recently around 40 per 100,000 inhabitants, and in the greater Paris area even at 85. The government fears that without new measures the pressure on hospitals could rise again.