TOP HEADLINES

• The UK's COVID-19 alert level has been lowered from five to four in all four nations as the risk that the NHS could be overwhelmed has receded, said the health ministry.

• EU leaders have met to look at ways to speed up the production and delivery of vaccines, with the target of having 70 percent of adults vaccinated by the summer.

• Moderna has said it is expecting sales of $18.4 billion from its coronavirus vaccine this year, putting it on the path to post a profit for the first time since its formation in 2010.

• The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was found to be 94 percent effective at preventing COVID-19 by the first real-world study conducted in Israel.

• Finland will enter a three-week lockdown beginning on March 8. The country has one of the lowest infection rates in Europe, but has registered a rise in new daily cases, most of which are connected to the UK-discovered variant of the virus.

• Ukraine has reported a 40 percent increase in new cases in the past 24 hours, reaching a total of 8,147, most of which were recorded in the capital Kiev and the western area of the country.

• Care UK, one of the country's biggest care home operators, has introduced a "no jab, no job" policy, which forces new care home staff to get vaccinated as a condition for their employment.

• France will introduce new restrictions for cross-border workers coming from Germany, who will be requested to present a negative test if entering the country for reasons unrelated to their jobs. The move comes as the number of new cases linked to new variants of the virus has grown in the Moselle region.

• The number of babies born in France in January fell by 13 percent, the biggest drop in 45 years, which statisticians have linked to the pandemic.

• The Italian government is discussing a new decree to be formally announced on Monday which will impose a new lockdown in the country from March 6 to April 6, with the aim to avoid people traveling to meet family and friends during the Easter break.

• AstraZeneca has announced it will deliver 180 million vaccines to the EU in spring, but some EU officials are reportedly skeptical that the drug maker will deliver as promised.

• Tokyo Olympics organizers are asking fans to avoid cheering and stick to clapping only as a safety measure against the spread of COVID-19 when the Olympics torch travels across Japan for the ceremonial torch relay which will start at the end of next month.

• China denied subjecting U.S. diplomats to anal swab tests, following reports that some U.S. personnel had been required to undergo the practice.

• New York has reported the spread of a new COVID-19 variant, which researchers worry might affect the effectiveness of the vaccines currently available.

• The U.S. could start using the Johnson & Johnson vaccine as soon as next week, as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Wednesday the one-shot jab appeared safe and effective in trials.

ACROSS EUROPE

Nawied Jabarkhyl in London

One in seven people in England has antibodies against COVID-19.

The results from Imperial College London's regular study shows vaccines are starting to increase the level of immunity in the population. The study took blood tests from more than 150,000 people between January 26 and February 8.

The UK government has confirmed that GCSE and A-level exam results in England will be decided by teachers this year. The move is an attempt by the government to avoid last summer's controversy, in which thousands of results were downgraded by an algorithm.

But some in the education sector worry officials are passing responsibility to teachers if students don't get the grades they want. And then there's the issue of grade inflation – with experts expressing concerns that teachers are at risk of giving pupils higher marks than examiners would have.

Ross Cullen in Paris

France has recorded its highest number of new daily cases since mid-November 2020, with more than 30,000 new COVID-19 infections in the past 24 hours. 

Seventeen percent of all French people over the age of 20 have been infected, according to the Pasteur Institute. The prime minister will hold his weekly news conference on the situation at 6 p.m. local time on Thursday. 

The government says "a dozen regions" have a "very worrying" health situation where the issue surrounding new infections is "deteriorating". 

Two weekend lockdowns will be imposed in Dunkirk and Nice for February 27 and 28 and March 6 and 7, with the government choosing to apply targeted regional lockdowns for now. 

Speaking on breakfast media, one of the leading doctors at the Paris Hospitals Group doubts that strategy will work, saying "weekend lockdowns will probably not be enough." Nearly 17,000 extra vaccine doses will be sent to Dunkirk.

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Rahul Pathak in Madrid

Spain will push for the EU to quickly adopt vaccination passports as it tries to rescue its tourism industry, a sector that has been decimated by the fallout from coronavirus.

Vaccine passports or certificates have been mooted as a possible way to safely reopen international leisure travel. The plan will be discussed at Thursday's video conference meeting of the 27 EU leaders. 

It comes as Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced a $13 billion rescue package to help the ailing tourism and hospitality sectors.

Trent Murray in Frankfurt 

The latest data from Germany's Robert Koch Institute show there have been 11,869 new COVID-19 infections recorded – an increase of 16 percent compared with this time last week. 

The falling infection rate that Germany has been enjoying in recent weeks appears to have officially stalled. The incidence rate per 100,000 people has risen from 59.3 to 61.7. 

Given the government's target for that number is 35, today's news will disappoint health leaders and lockdown-weary Germans. 

Chancellor Angela Merkel will undoubtedly discuss infection rates when she meets other EU leaders today via video conference. A press conference from the chancellor is expected around 6 p.m. GMT. 

Julia Chapman in Budapest

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis has warned of "hellish days" ahead as hospitals struggle to cope with an influx of COVID-19 patients. 

Some 15,672 cases were recorded in Czechia on Wednesday and infections are spreading faster in the country than anywhere in Europe. Babis says more restrictions will be necessary, echoing warnings from his health minister that a full lockdown could be on the horizon. 

The Czech government has struggled to take control of the virus and faced significant challenges from opposition parties in parliament when trying to implement containment measures. A "Pandemic Law" will be debated on Friday, aimed at reducing Babis's influence. 

FROM OUR GLOBAL COLLEAGUES

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_{Cover image: AP Photo/Petr David Josek}