TOP HEADLINES

- Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline said clinical trials of their COVID-19 vaccine showed an insufficient immune response in older people, delaying its launch to late next year.

- Britain's estimated reproduction, or R, number has increased slightly to between 0.9 and 1.0, from between 0.8 and 1.0 a week ago, government scientists said on Friday.

- All school pupils aged 14-16 in Sweden's capital Stockholm will switch to remote learning for the rest of this year to help stem a severe second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

- Switzerland on Friday ordered restaurants, bars and shops to close from 7 p.m. across most of the nation, as the country faces a persistently high level of infections and deaths.

- Italy reported 761 coronavirus-related deaths on Friday against 887 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections increased to 18,727 from 16,999.

- Scientists say five key genes are linked with the most severe form of COVID-19. The new research also pointed to several existing drugs that could be repurposed to treat people who risk becoming critically ill with the pandemic disease.

- UK pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca has revealed it will investigate combining its own COVID-19 vaccine shot with Russia's Sputnik V, a move Russian scientists have suggested could sharply boost efficacy.

- Germany must go into a hard lockdown immediately to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer was quoted as saying on Friday.

- Despite that warning, the German state of Lower Saxony will relax measures planned for Christmas and New Year's Eve. Students will also be exempt from classroom teaching from next week.

- EU nations have at last been granted access to a $2.2trn coronavirus recovery fund after the bloc's leaders struck a compromise with Hungary and Poland, after they'd earlier vetoed the deal.

- France will introduce a night-time curfew of 8 p.m. as it prepares to end a national lockdown on December 15, but the number of cases of COVID-19 remain at more than 10,000 per day.

- However, French restaurants will be allowed to continue home deliveries after 8 p.m..

- Scotland's travel restrictions to and from the Republic of Ireland, excluding Donegal, will be lifted on Friday night following a reduction in cases across the country.

- Eight hundred UK holidaymakers in the Canary Islands will have to self isolate for 14 days when they return for Christmas after new quarantine measures were introduced. 

- Secondary schools in London, Kent and Essex will be subjected to mass testing following a huge rise in cases among 11 to 18-year-olds in those areas.

- Researchers in Italy have found that a four-year-old boy contracted COVID-19 in November last year, meaning the virus was likely to have been circulating around Europe much earlier than originally thought.

ACROSS EUROPE

Lucy Hough in Brussels

The number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in Belgium has fallen below 3,000 for the first time since October 20. Of the 2,939 people currently receiving hospital care, 657 are now in intensive care. The country's overall tally of positive cases since the start of the pandemic has now surpassed 600,000.

The number of infections and daily hospital admissions is continuing to fall, but the rate of decrease has slowed in recent weeks. The average daily new infections for the period December 1-7 was 2,165, a fall of 2 percent.

The regions of Brussels and Wallonia have extended their 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew until January 15 to curb the spread of the virus. 

Ross Cullen in Paris

France's Prime Minister Jean Castex says the country's national lockdown will be replaced with a nationwide curfew on December 15 as planned but with earlier start and finish times of 8 p.m. to 6 a.m.. He said "we must not lower our guard" as the daily coronavirus infection numbers are not as low as the government had hoped.

President Emmanuel Macron said the government was hoping to reduce daily cases to 5,000 by December 15 but Castex admitted infections "will be about double that number." As a result, cultural spaces will now not reopen as planned on that date. Theaters, cinemas and museums will remain closed until at least January 7. Bars and restaurants are already staying shut until at least January 20. 

From December 15, the requirement for citizens to fill in a government document every time they leave their house will no longer be needed unless they are departing after 8 p.m.. People must also declare a valid reason for doing so. Inter-regional travel will also be permitted across the country from next Tuesday. 

Although the national curfew will be lifted for Christmas Eve on December 24, the government has now said it will not allow a loosening of the curfew for New Year's Eve on December 31. Castex says permitting many households to meet inside to celebrate the start of 2021 would create all the conditions for spreading the virus further. 

The curfew means that for New Year's Eve this year, people will have to be inside by 8 p.m. and stay there until 6 a.m. on January 1.

Linda Kennedy in Budapest

Discord between generations when it comes to shopping may mean the Hungarian government suspends the "no-go grocery time zone" that stops people aged under 65 going into supermarkets at protected times of the day. 

Between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. on weekdays and between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. at weekends, only people aged over 65 are allowed in supermarkets, to help protect them from the virus. 

The Council of the Elderly and trade organizations have asked for the ruling to be suspended, to allow younger people more flexibility for Christmas shopping. Council members said tensions between age groups were increasing with the approach of the festive season.

Ryan Thompson in Frankfurt

Several German states are planning tougher restrictions ahead of the Christmas holidays amid a record number of new COVID-19 cases, while state leaders met in Berlin on Friday to consolidate their efforts. 

The southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg announced on Thursday that it will launch a curfew next week in addition to other measures. The capital Berlin will also follow, which will force shops to close and possibly extend school holidays. 

The President of the Robert Koch Institute warned that "the rise in numbers is worrying," as Germany recorded nearly 30,000 new cases and 598 new deaths on Thursday.

In contrast, the state of Lower Saxony has announced it will relax measures planned for Christmas and New Year's Eve.

FROM OUR GLOBAL COLLEAGUES

CGTN Europe: Forty percent of ex-COVID-19 patients 'still feel unwell' two months later 

CGTN China: China's senior high schools can reach 90% popularization target in 2020

CGTN America: Polarization in U.S. widens despite Biden's call for unity

CGTN Africa: UN food agency warns of hunger pandemic 'worse than COVID-19'

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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.