Thu 16 December 2021:
According to the interior ministry, there are 110,000 fake health passes in circulation in France, and hundreds of investigations have been launched against the creators and users of the forged documents.
Access to public transportation, restaurants, and cultural events requires a health pass that shows proof of vaccination, Covid recovery, or a recent negative test result.
Police have discovered that medical staff is sometimes complicit in the fraud as they investigate users and distributors of fake documents, according to Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin.
“TIDAL WAVE”: BRITISH TOURISTS TO BE BANNED FROM FRANCE AMID RISE IN OMICRON CASES
Some 100 people had been arrested as a result of 400 investigations since the health pass became mandatory in parts of public life, Darmanin said.
“The problem with the fake health passes is that they often involve the collusion of real doctors or real nurses,” he told the France 2 broadcaster.
This makes offences “very difficult to prove”.
He said they could face up to five years in prison, and that some have already received suspended or actual prison sentences.
A doctor was charged and detained last month in the Paris region for allegedly selling at least 220 fake health passes.
Darmanin said he supported dropping charges against people who agreed to get a real health card rather than a fake one.
The French government has warned that during the Christmas season, the number of Covid patients in intensive care could rise to 4,000, up from 3,000 now.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
_____________________________________________________________________________
FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:
TWITTER (CLICK HERE)
https://twitter.com/IpIndependent
FACEBOOK (CLICK HERE)
https://web.facebook.com/ipindependent
Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!
