TOP HEADLINES

· UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has denied claims the country has implemented an outright ban on the export of vaccines to other countries. European Council President Charles Michel made the claim in a newsletter sent to subscribers on Tuesday. The European Union has since conceded no such ban exists.

· Portugal has joined Italy and Norway in approving AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine for use on people aged over 65, as new studies revealed its effectiveness in preventing infection and lowering hospitalizations among elderly people. 

· The highly infectious COVID-19 variant first discovered in the UK is between 30 percent and 100 percent more deadly than previous strains, according to research from the British Medical Journal. The B.1.1.7 strain is also 40 to 70 percent more transmissible.

· The European Commission has reached a deal for an additional 4 million Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine doses to be delivered this month. The doses, 600,000 of which will go to France, will be supplied to ease border movement and to tackle virus hotspots.

· In the UK, COVID-19 case rates have fallen below the symbolic level of 50 cases per 100,000 people in half of all local areas. One month ago, only six of the 380 local areas were reporting rates below that figure. Meanwhile, authorities confirmed a further 190 deaths from the virus.

· The number of patients in intensive care in Czechia has reached a new high, with 1,853 from a total of 8,618 hospitalizations in ICU. Facilities in the country, which has the highest per capita case rate, are struggling to cope, with the first patient sent abroad to Poland for treatment.

· Germany's sluggish vaccine roll-out will accelerate from April, when doctors begin to administer the jab, but a target to reach 25 percent of the population is unrealistic, according to Health Minister Jens Spahn. Only around 6.4 percent of the 83 million population have received at least a first dose.

· Thomas Mertens, the head of STIKO, a German expert panel on vaccine use, has come out in support of Russia's Sputnik V jab, as Europe cautiously weighs producing and using it. "This is a good vaccine, which looks like it will be approved in the EU at some point," he said.

· An opinion poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology has found 60 percent of Ukrainians don't want a vaccine, up from 40 percent in January, according to AP. There is particular reluctance among medical workers.

· Estonia's government has banned groups larger than two people, closed non-essential shops and told restaurants to switch to takeaways to contain a surge in COVID-19 infections. Primary schools will also switch to online education in the country, which has the second-highest per capita infection rate in the European Union.

ACROSS EUROPE

Rahul Pathak in Madrid

Spain's tourism minister says her country could start using the vaccine passport in May, when the international tourism fair FITUR is due to take place in Madrid.

Spain has already been trialing the use of the health passes, while the EU is currently trying to work out the details of a Europe-wide vaccine passport.

Speaking on Wednesday, Reyes Maroto said Spain could be in a position to start implementing the digital certificate as early as May 19.

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Julia Chapman in Budapest

A further 179 people have died in Hungary from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, nearly the number of the December peak. A second daily record of hospitalizations was also reported – 8,348 patients, 844 of whom are on a ventilator. It comes as the country grapples with its worst wave of infections since the start of the pandemic.

After delays to Hungary's vaccine roll-out over the weekend, the program is back in full swing, with a delivery of Pfizer jabs having arrived on Tuesday and another from Sinopharm expected on Thursday. Hungary is the only EU country using five different vaccines and has inoculated more than 10 percent of its population, the second highest rate per capita in the bloc.

Toni Waterman in Brussels

Belgium

Belgium's vaccination program has passed the 1 million mark, with 644,933 people having received a first dose and 345,696 having taken a second dose. It's a morale booster as the country's vaccine program struggles for lift-off amid delivery shortfalls and as the reproduction rate rises above 1 again, meaning the virus is spreading.

The country's prolonged second lockdown also appears to be impacting Belgians' ability to sleep. According to a study by VUB and the Brugmann hospital in Brussels, 29 percent of people have complained of insomnia since the country returned to lockdown last October.

The EU

The EU's Charge d'Affaires Nicole Mannion was summoned by the UK's Foreign Office on Wednesday morning after Brussels accused Britain of banning vaccine exports. 

In a newsletter on Tuesday, European Council President Charles Michel said he was "shocked" by "accusations of vaccine nationalism" in Europe and instead pointed the finger at the UK and the U.S.. He accused them of having "imposed an outright ban on the export of vaccines or vaccine components." Downing Street has vehemently denied the accusation, insisting there is no ban in place. 

It's the latest flare-up in an increasingly tense post-Brexit relationship, accentuated by the fact that the deputy head of the EU's mission to the UK was sent to the meeting.

"The UK hasn't accredited the EU representative as an ambassador, so that's less convenient if you want to summon him," an EU official said.

Ross Cullen in Paris

The Saturday-Sunday lockdown in the northern port of Dunkirk has been extended to include the next three weekends.

The move comes ahead of the weekly Wednesday meeting of top ministers chaired by the president. Their focus will be on the 23 regions that are currently under "increased surveillance."

In the Paris capital region, which is not under a weekend lockdown at the moment, the number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care has passed the mark of 1,000. There are now 1,018 patients in urgent wards for "fewer than 1,050" beds that should be available in theory, according to the Regional Health Agency.

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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