TOP HEADLINES

-Britain has recorded 23,012 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, up from 20,530 on Friday.

-Spanish regions are urging the central government to take measures that would give them legal backing to impose curfews

-Violence broke out between anti-lockdown protestors and police in Naples after the region's leader suggested that Campania should go into a full lockdown.

-Bulgaria's capital Sofia, home to some two million people, will close nightclubs and discos on Sunday for two weeks as it grapples to contain a surge in infections.

-Police in Poland have used tear gas on several occasions as thousands of people protested in Warsaw against restrictions aimed at curbing the surging epidemic.

-The number of confirmed cases in Germany increased by 14,714 to 418,005, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Saturday.

-Polish President Andrzej Duda has tested positive for COVID-19 and is subject to quarantine but isn't suffering serious symptoms, according to Presidential Minister Blazej Spychalski.

-At midnight on Friday French President Emmanuel Macron extended the country's 9 p.m-6 p.m curfew to cover more than two thirds of the country's population.

-Macron has also predicted that the country will be fighting COVID-19 until at least the middle of next year after France recorded more than 40,000 new cases on Friday, making it the second European country after Spain to pass the million cases mark.

-Czechia has reported 15,252 new cases of COVID-19 for 23 October, its highest daily tally, as the country faces Europe's fastest spread of the infection.

-In the UK, South Yorkshire has moved into tier three, England's strictest level of restrictions, meaning people won't be allowed to socialize indoors for the foreseeable future.

-Scotland will introduce a five tier COVID alert system from 2 November, with the top level imposing measures similar to a full lockdown but with schools remaining open.

-The UK's NHS wants volunteers who have recovered from COVID-19 to donate their blood plasma for a trial to see if it could help to fight the virus.

-The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that too many hospitals and intensive care units in Europe are operating at close to maximum as the virus continues to spread.

ACROSS EUROPE

Nawied Jabarkhyl in London

Another region of England has moved into the highest category of COVID restrictions on Saturday. The area of South Yorkshire is home to 1.4 million people and the tier three measures mean they'll no longer be able to socialize indoors. In total, 7.3 million people in England are now under the tightest limitations.

Elsewhere, Manchester United footballer Marcus Rashford said he was "overwhelmed" by the response from local councils and businesses to his campaign to get free meals for schoolchildren in the UK. Rashford had called on the government to provide the meals outside of school term time, which Downing Street refused. It said it was providing help to poorer families in other ways.

Paris

France has relaunched its COVID-19 contact tracing app after the first version was plagued with technical problems. 

The app has been given a new name 'TousAntiCovid' (Everyone against COVID) and has been downloaded by 500,000 people in the first 24 hours since its relaunch. 

However, the volume of new users has caused further problems with some people unable to activate the app which could affect download numbers. 

In total 2.5 million people have downloaded the app since the first version was rolled out but those numbers are small in comparison to the number of people who have downloaded similar apps in other European countries.

Berlin

Germany recorded more than 11,000 infections for the second day in a row on Friday as the number of cases continue to rise across the country.

Germany's infection rate now stands at 60.3 cases per 100,000 people, having increased from 56.2 per 100,000 the day before. 

The country's struggle to limit the number of cases could see a second national lockdown imposed in the coming weeks, according to a leading medical expert.

"Then it would no longer be possible for health authorities to trace and interrupt chains of infection," Frank Ulrich Montgomery, the chairman of the World Medical Association, told the daily Rheinische Post. "Then we could be up for a second lockdown because there is no other way to slow the virus."

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CGTN Europe has been providing in-depth coverage of the novel coronavirus story as it has unfolded. Here you can read the essential information about the crisis.