TOP HEADLINES

- The World Health Organization has suggested it would support the vaccination of hospital workers becoming a requirement. 

- Switzerland and Italy are to halt all cross-border rail travel from Thursday because the train companies do not have the capacity to carry out COVID-19 safety checks ordered by the Italian government.

- New infections in the Netherlands rose by 43,103 in the week ending December 8, the first weekly rise since October after weeks of declines.

- The eastern state of Saxony has become the latest region in Germany to implement stricter measures, with schools and non-essential businesses forced to close from December 14 amid a surge in infections.

- Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said the company "didn't cut any corners," to produce its vaccine. 

- Four lions, three females and one male, at Barcelona Zoo have tested positive for the virus, veterinary authorities have said. 

- Germany may need tougher restrictions to stop a surge in cases before Christmas, according to Health Minister Jens Spahn.

- Denmark is reinstating tighter restrictions on 38 towns and cities including the capital Copenhagen. From Tuesday, restaurants, cafes, bars, gyms, sports centers and swimming pools will be closed in restricted regions. 

- Switzerland has increased its order of Moderna's potential vaccine from 4.5m to 7.5m, the U.S. pharmaceutical company said.

- Jerome Salomon, the top official of France's health ministry, has backed Health Minister Olivier Veran's warning that the country was unlikely to meet the requirement of less than 5,000 new cases per day needed to end its national lockdown on December 15.

- Poland has bought more than 60 million vaccine doses from six producers, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has said.

- Italy's Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese discovered she had tested positive for the virus during a cabinet meeting on Monday, with foreign minister Luigi Di Maio and justice minister Alfonso Bonafede both deciding to self-isolate because they were sitting next to Lamorgese in the meeting. 

- The European Union is hopeful it can reach a deal with Switzerland about having a so-called level-playing field over the opening of ski resorts in the region, according to France's junior minister of European Affairs, Clement Beaune.

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ACROSS EUROPE

Iolo ap Dafydd in London 

A mass immunization program is beginning in the UK and is likely to last throughout 2021. A 90-year-old woman received the first Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine earlier this morning, while 40,000 people who are hospital patients, health service staff and vulnerable residents from care homes are first in line to be vaccinated against COVID-19. 

A total of 800,000 doses of the first vaccine to be regulated in the UK have already arrived and several million doses are expected before the end of the year, according to Health Secretary Matt Hancock.

As Brexit trade talks continue down to the wire, this groundbreaking vaccine is manufactured in Belgium, a European Union member state. There are some concerns that the flow of vaccines could be affected unless there's an agreement between the UK and the EU. UK military and Royal Airforce personnel are on standby to fly in supplies.

Toni Waterman in Brussels

Trade unions representing Belgium's hairdressers and beauticians will lobby Prime Minister Alexander de Croo on Tuesday to allow them to get back to work. While non-essential shops were allowed to reopen earlier this month, salons have been closed since November 1 and aren't expected to pull up the shutters until mid-January at the earliest. 

Meanwhile, Belgium could reinstate a 10-day quarantine rule for people returning from a "red zone" just in time for the holiday season. The quarantine requirement was mostly scrapped in October, but is expected to return from December 18. Most of Europe is considered a red-zone at the moment.

Stefan de Vries in Amsterdam

The rapid increase in positive cases in The Netherlands will make easing COVID-19 measures before Christmas very unlikely. 

In a press conference on Tuesday night, Prime Minister Mark Rutte is not expected to announce any loosening of measures during the holidays. 

The government was aiming to bring down daily new cases to around 3,600 infections by December 10. On Monday, there were 7,134 positive tests, an increase of 333 compared with the day before. While 19 people died.

The number of coronavirus patients in hospitals is barely decreasing either, compared with the beginning of this month. Because of the rising infection rates, the health authorities expect hospital admissions to rise again in the coming weeks. Restaurants and bars will stay closed until at least January. The Dutch will have no other option than to adapt their traditional two-day Christmas feast.

Linda Kennedy in Budapest

Outdoor New Year's Eve celebrations have been prohibited in Hungary, with the extension of the current night-time curfew until January 11, Prime Minister Viktor Orban has announced. 

Restaurants and cafes will remain closed except for takeaway and Orban said whether or not there would be an exception to the 8 p.m. curfew on Christmas Eve would be decided on December 21.

But there will be no exception on December 31. The decision was taken after consultation with epidemiologists and scientists who unanimously suggested maintaining strict measures, the prime minister said.

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