PARIS- France's highest court upheld a new law requiring the public to hold a health pass to access bars and restaurants and health workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by mid-September, saying it complied with the republic's founding charter.

In its ruling on Thursday, the Constitutional Council did however strike down several clauses in the legislation, saying that enforcing a compulsory 10-day quarantine on anyone testing COVID-19 positive was an impingement on freedoms.

It also ruled that while employers could suspend health and frontline workers who refuse to get a COVID-19 shot or show proof of a negative test, they could not dismiss them.

The legislation is due to come into effect on Aug. 9. It was unveiled by President Emmanuel Macron in July as the Delta variant of the coronavirus fuelled a fourth wave of infections. Macron delivered a simple message at the time: get vaccinated.

(Reporting by Richard Lough in Paris, additional reporting by Clotaire Achi in Toulon; Editing by Janet Lawrence and Mark Heinrich) ((Email: richard.lough@thomsonreuters.com; Tel: +33 1 80 98 12 45 ;))