TOP HEADLINES
- Eight people were arrested in Denmark after attending an anti-lockdown demonstration. The country announced last Wednesday that while some COVID-19 restrictions would be eased, the majority will stay in place.
- Pressure by immunologists and researchers is growing in Germany to follow in the UK's footsteps and implement longer intervals between the first and second dose, to get more people vaccinated.
- The UK's chancellor has announced 700,000 grants for shops, restaurants, and other businesses as part of a $6.962 billion rescue scheme as the country's lockdown remains in place.
- Several Spanish regions are making changes to their current COVID-19 restrictions to stop the spread of the virus. Since the end of the first wave of the virus, regional governments have been responsible for managing the response to the pandemic.
- More than half of the inmates and staff members at Belgium's Namur prison tested positive for COVID-19. All visits have been suspended to the facility.
- Three police officers have been injured in the center of Dublin, Ireland, after clashes during a demonstration against COVID-19 restrictions.
- The Vatican's ambassador to Iraq has tested positive for COVID-19, just days before Pope Francis's historic visit. Iraq is facing an infection resurgence, which the health ministry blames for the faster-spreading variant first discovered in the UK.
- Czechia has announced its tightest lockdown since the start of the pandemic. Among the strictest restrictions, people are forbidden from traveling to other counties unless they have to go to work or take care of relatives.
- More than 20 million people in the UK have now received their first dose of coronavirus vaccinations.
- Hungary's prime minister, Viktor Orban, has been given his first coronavirus jab, the vaccine developed by China's Sinopharm.
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ACROSS EUROPE
Rahul Pathak in Madrid
There are fears that the protests for the jailed rapper Pablo Hasel are slowing Catalonia's recovery from the third wave of the pandemic.
Robert Guerri, head of infectious diseases at Barcelona's Hospital del Mar, said the new variant first discovered in the UK, allied to the increase in contacts as a result of the demonstrations, were especially worrying.
Guerri has also warned of a possible fourth wave in Catalonia if people are allowed to go out in large numbers during the Easter holiday.
"If at Easter everywhere is allowed to open and we go out as we did at Christmas, we are doomed to failure and disaster," he claimed.
Several hundred people took to the streets to protest lockdown measures in Copenhagen, Denmark. /AFP
Stefan de Vries in Amsterdam
The American FDA approved the vaccine that was developed in the Netherlands by Janssen Pharmaceuticals. The EU is expected to give its green light on March 11, making it the fourth vaccine available to bloc members. Brussels ordered 200 million doses of the jab, with an option for another 200 million.
On Saturday, parks in several cities were closed because of high attendance. Squares were crowded with people enjoying the sun while having a drink, making it impossible to respect the 1.5-meter social distance. In some places, the police had to intervene. Amsterdam's mayor wants to reopen café terraces to spread the crowds, but the government insists that reopening is unfeasible at this stage.
On Sunday, precisely a year after the country's first coronavirus case, the total reached 1,084,021. The number of positive tests on Saturday was 4,993, above the weekly average of 4,605. Despite the increase, some lockdown measures will be eased on Monday.
FROM OUR GLOBAL COLLEAGUES
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CGTN America: Canadian regulator authorizes AstraZeneca vaccine
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