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EURO 2020 warning, Dutch mask rule dropped: COVID-19 daily bulletin
Updated 19:59, 20-Jun-2021
Katherine Berjikian
Europe;

TOP HEADLINES

· The Palestinian Authority (PA) has cancelled a vaccine swap deal with Israel and returned 90,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine because they were about to expire. According to the PA, the vaccines were supposed to expire in July or August, but instead, they got a shipment that would expire this month, meaning that they could not use them in time. 

· EU countries should coordinate their border openings, according to French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. They also called on other members states to be cautious during the summer tourist season and not to "re-import new variants." 

· The pair also urged countries to be cautious about letting crowds form during EURO 2020 games. They argued that countries should not "act as if corona were over," and pointed to Portugal as an example of how quickly things can change.

· A three-day travel ban came into effect yesterday afternoon in Lisbon. People will not be able to leave or enter the city until 6 am on Monday. Portugal is currently seeing a rise in cases, and the death rate has bounced back to the same level as four months ago when the country was in lockdown. Most of the cases are in the Lisbon area.

· A surge of cases in Moscow is because of "nihilism" and vaccine hesitancy, according to a Kremlin spokesman. The statement came after 9,056 new cases were reported in Moscow, sparking fears of a possible third wave. Most of the people were infected with the more aggressive Delta variant.

· Russia has since reported 17,906 new cases on Saturday and 466 deaths in the past 24 hours. That means that the country has had 5,299,215 cases and 128,911 deaths since the pandemic began.

· French police broke up an illegal rave of around 1,500 people in Brittany on Friday night. There were "very violent clashes" between the 400 police officers and the partygoers. As a result, five police officers were injured, and one attendee lost a hand.

· In France, COVID-19 related deaths among the Muslim community were much higher than the whole population, according to an analysis by Reuters. One study claimed that the death rate of people originally born in North Africa was twice as high as the rate of people born in France.

· People in the Netherlands will no longer have to wear masks as long as they follow social distancing rules as of June 26, according to prime minister Mark Rutte. The country's infection rate is at a nine-month low.

· Italian prime minister Mario Draghi has urged the country to get fully vaccinated after a ban on AstraZeneca for people older than 60 years old caused some confusion. The government recommended older people who had the AstraZeneca jab as their first dose should get a different shot for their second dose.  But unexpectedly, appointments for the second vaccine dropped after the announcement.

· The UK is debating what work will look like post-pandemic. The opposition Labour party wants to give people a legal right to flexible working, including working from home, but the current government has said that it has no plans to impose this. However, it is trying to encourage companies to shift towards more flexible working conditions in the future.

FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT

Nicole Johnston, London 

It's a weekend of mass vaccination events in London. A number of football stadiums including Tottenham Hotspur, Stamford Bridge and the Olympic Park stadium will be offering the COVID-19 jab to anyone aged over 18 years. 

Organizers hope that the added incentive of being vaccinated in a famous football stadium will convince more people to take up the vaccine offer. 

Cases of the Delta variant are increasing among 20 to 24 year olds. London is hoping to reach 100,000 vaccinations a day to try and drive new rates of infection down. 

The capital is emphasizing "walk-in" events so that people not registered with a local doctor will go in and be vaccinated - it is hoped those concerned about checks on their immigration status will take up the offer. 

The UK is now recording 11,000 doses of COVID-19 per day even though more than 80 percent of adults have been vaccinated. The country delayed its full re-opening of society by four weeks due to concerns about the spread of the Delta variant. It now hopes to re-open on July 19.

Source(s): AFP ,Reuters

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