TOP HEADLINES

• Ireland has temporarily suspended the use of the Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine after four cases of serious blood clotting in health people who have received the vaccine.

• Dutch riot police used water cannon and batons on Sunday to disperse a crowd of several thousand anti-lockdown protesters gathered at a field in the center of The Hague a day before national elections.

• Italy's northern region of Piedmont said on Sunday said it would temporarily suspend AstraZeneca coronavirus shots after a teacher from the town of Biella died following his vaccination on Saturday.

• The European Union will be able to stick to its vaccination targets this quarter despite AstraZeneca delivery delays as Pfizer is producing faster than planned, EU industry commissioner Thierry Breton said on Saturday.

• The World Health Organization says there is no reason to stop using the AstraZeneca jab despite the concerns over potential clotting.

• Italy's COVID-19 case numbers should start improving in late spring, the country's health minister has said, with the current steady rise expected to be turned around by a national vaccination campaign and tougher restrictions. 

• British Airways' new boss says vaccinated people should be allowed to travel without restriction, as well as non-vaccinated people with a negative COVID-19 test.

• The Portuguese island of Corvo will soon reach herd immunity, according to its only doctor, after vaccinating most of its 400-strong population. 

• The European Commission has defended its policy of distributing COVID-19 vaccines evenly in the bloc after Austria and five other member states complained that doses were not allocated equally.

• Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic says COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers should "respect what has been signed" after failing to deliver the number of doses originally promised to the EU. 

ACROSS EUROPE

Nawied Jabarkhyl in London

There's pressure on the head of London's Metropolitan Police force to resign over its handling of a vigil for murder victim Sarah Everard. Four people were arrested after clashes with officers, with some people at Saturday's event saying police were "heavy-handed."

The official vigil was called off by organizers because of the risk of spreading COVID-19 but hundreds of people still turned out to pay their respects to Everard and call for more protection for women's rights. A serving police officer from the force has been charged with her murder.

Elsewhere, soccer's FA Cup final will be played in front of 20,000 spectators, the government has confirmed. The match is scheduled for May 15 and will mark a major milestone in the UK's plans to get fans back into live sports events.

Germany

Germany continues to suffer a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases, with the Robert Koch Institute reporting that infections rose from 72.1 per 100,000 people on Friday to people to 76.1 on Saturday.

The RKI has predicted that the incidence rate, which just seven days ago was 65.6, could rise as high as 350 by mid-April if it continues on the same upward trajectory.

That figure would be similar to Germany's level of infections back in December. The worrying figures have come after the country eased some of its harshest restrictions. 

The government has warned it will reimpose those measures if the incidence rate surpasses 100.

Italy

Shops, restaurants and schools will all close as Italy implements new restrictions in an attempt to halt another surge in COVID-19 infections.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi says there will be a complete shutdown over the Easter weekend of April 3 to 5 after warning of a new wave of the virus spreading throughout the country.

The news comes after Italy and the rest of the EU were hit by another blow to their vaccination campaign, with AstraZeneca announcing an additional shortfall in its delivery of vaccine doses to the bloc.

The pharmaceutical company had agreed to supply 100 million doses to the EU by March but has fallen considerably short of that initial target.

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