TOP HEADLINES
· Europe has passed the tragic milestone of 1 million coronavirus deaths. The World Health Organization warned that the world was “in a critical point of the pandemic,” with infections rising exponentially despite global efforts to combat the virus.
· The UK is now offering a first shot of the coronavirus vaccine to over-45s as the roll-out of Moderna’s jab gets underway in England. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the target was to offer all adults a vaccine by the end of July.
· Germany’s federal government will ask for temporary powers to push through a nationwide coronavirus lockdown after several regions failed to impose agreed curbs, a government source told the Reuters news agency.
· Spain is set to prioritize 70 to 79-year-olds for Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose vaccine, Health Minister Carolina Darias has said, as stocks of the U.S.-made jab begin to arrive in Europe this week.
· The highly contagious coronavirus variant first identified in the UK – now the most common strain in the U.S. – does not cause as severe disease in hospitalized patients as was initially feared, according to a new study in The Lancet medical journal.
· A “significant” cluster of the coronavirus variant first discovered in South Africa has been found in two areas of south London during what the UK Department of Health called the “largest surge-testing operation to date.”
· Russia will restrict flights to and from Turkey from April 15 to June 1. Turkey has recorded a dramatic rise in coronavirus cases, with the government drawing up new tougher restrictions to combat a “third peak.” However, Moscow’s decision has also been linked to political tensions with Ankara, coming just two days after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in Istanbul.
· Ireland has become the latest European country to restrict the use of AstraZeneca’s Vaxzevria jab, recommending it only be given to people aged over 60.
· The world has so far “failed the test” of mounting a coordinated response to the pandemic, UN chief Antonio Guterres has said, pointing out that vaccine inequality had left just 10 countries with around 75 percent of the world’s available vaccines.
· Austria’s health minister Rudolf Anschober is quitting after a year in the job, saying he was overworked and exhausted managing the coronavirus crisis.
· Britain’s economy will be back to pre-coronavirus levels around the middle of next year, economists have said in a Reuters poll, predicting that unemployment would peak at 6.2 percent as 2021 ends.
· Greece’s high schools have reopened after a five-month closure to curb infections. Precautions inside the education setting include virus tests for students and teachers twice per week.
A teacher gives a class to students on a beach near Cartagena in southern Spain, part of a project to use the outdoors as an alternative to the classroom amid the pandemic. /Nacho Doce/Reuters
AROUND EUROPE
Toni Waterman in Brussels
On Tuesday, the court of appeals in Brussels will begin reviewing a case brought by the League for Human Rights on the legality of COVID-19 measures. A lower court ruled in March that measures taken by ministerial decree were illegal and that all restrictions had to be lifted within 30 days. The Belgian state has asked the appeals court to overturn that decision. The appeals court is expected to make its ruling by the end of the month.
Also on Tuesday, general practitioners in the Brussels region will be able to start administering vaccines to patients at home if they are unable to travel to vaccination centers. Given the time-consuming nature of home visits, the plan is to use the Johnson & Johnson jab, which is expected to be available in Belgium from next Monday.
Ross Cullen in Paris
The first drive-in vaccination center has opened in France, near Montpellier in the south of the country. The “Vaccidrive” can carry out 1,000 vaccinations a week for people, without them needing to leave their cars to get the jab.
More than 11 million people in France have now had at least one vaccination. On Monday, 492 people were admitted to the hospital with the virus, an increase on the 298 who were taken in for treatment one week previously.
This week, France is set to pass the mark of 100,000 coronavirus deaths. The French government is considering banning people coming into the country from Brazil, which has the second-highest death toll in the world after the U.S.
Rahul Pathak in Madrid
Spain will start taking delivery of 300,000 doses of Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen single-dose vaccine on Wednesday.
It’s the fourth coronavirus vaccine to be approved for use in Spain but is the first to only require one injection.
Spain’s health ministry says the jabs will initially be given to people aged between 70 and 79.
In total, the government says more than 10 million doses of coronavirus vaccines have been administered since its immunisation program began.
Around 15 percent of the population has had at least a first injection. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez says he wants that figure to rise to 70 percent by the summer.