A tightening of French rules to contain the Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has led to a huge surge in people making appointments for booster vaccinations

More than 1.2 million people made an appointment via the Doctolib website on Thursday alone, the operators of the website announced on Friday.

All residents of France over the age of 18 have been urged to get the booster jab as soon as they have reached the five-month mark since their last vaccination.

One reason for the rush is that the tightened rules will invalidate the health passport for anyone who has not received a booster within seven months of their last vaccination.

For people aged 65 and above who have been urged to get boosters for some time, the new rules will apply from Dec. 15, while for people aged 18 and above from Jan. 15.

People in France can visit restaurants, attend public events or travel by plane or long-distance train only with a so-called health passport proving vaccination, recovery, or a negative test result.

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French case numbers have been growing for several weeks.

Most recently, the seven-day incidence, which is the number of registered new infections within one week per 100,000 inhabitants, stood around the 200 mark.