TOP HEADLINES

• Thousands of anti-lockdown protesters rallied in cities across Europe as part of worldwide so-called 'March for Freedom'. Large scale protests hit Germany, the UK, Austria, the Netherlands and Poland, alongside several other European countries.

• German police deployed water cannon and pepper spray after a gathering of some 20,000 protesters against lockdown and other coronavirus rules in the city of Kassel turned violent, with some demonstrators throwing bottles at police.

• The UK is set to ease lockdown measures in line with the government roadmap, health minister Matt Hancock said Saturday after reporting that half of all adults in the UK have been given at least one vaccine dose.

• France has reported its highest number of coronavirus patients in intensive care for 2021, announcing on Saturday that over 4,300 people were in ICUs across the country. 

• Portugal will require travelers from South Africa via stopovers to quarantine for 14 days and present a negative COVID-19 test to prevent the spread of coronavirus variants. Flights to and from Brazil and Britain have also been suspended until the end of the month.

• EU chief Ursula von der Leyen has threatened AstraZeneca with export bans of its vaccines if the drug maker doesn't quickly deliver the promised amount of vaccines to the bloc.

• Greece will hand out self-testing coronavirus kits to anyone with a social security number next month amid high level of new infections. The government will also lift some lockdown restrictions like opening hair and beauty salons and archaeological sites from Monday.

• Vacations abroad will be "extremely unlikely" for most Britons this summer because of an increased risk of importing new coronavirus variants, a senior UK scientist who advises the British government has warned.

• Germany has classified Poland as a high-risk country and will restrict border crossings with its neighbor. Bulgaria and Cyprus have also been added to the list, meaning those wanting to enter Germany will have to present a negative coronavirus test.

• Europe has passed the milestone of a million COVID-19-related deaths.

• Around a third of France's population, including those around Paris, entered a new month-long set of restrictions to combat the coronavirus. However, President Emmanuel Macron has insisted the word "lockdown" is not appropriate to describe the measures.

• A surge in new infections and hospital admissions will help Belgium "tighten the screws" on restrictions, with many children now having to wear masks in schools. The government is resisting more drastic measures seen in other EU countries in order to preserve plans of opening up the economy in May.

• Italy had adopted a $38 billion pandemic aid package that will be used to prop up the economy by supporting businesses and households. 

• Germany will order Russia's Sputnik V vaccine even if the EU does not authorize its use, Merkel also said, adding that Berlin may secure supplies on its own if the bloc wouldn't.

• Europe's airlines and travel sector are facing a second "lost summer" as a lagging vaccine rollout, resurgent infections and new lockdowns hit hopes of an early rebound. "There's a risk of an increased number of bankruptcies," warned Alexandre de Juniac, of global airline body IATA.

AROUND EUROPE

Natalie Carney in Munch

German leaders have agreed that in addition to vaccination centers, family doctors can start inoculating patients from early April in an attempt to speed up the country's sluggish vaccine rollout. Private practices will initially receive 20 doses of vaccines per week. Border regions with Czechia, Austria and France, where a high number of COVID-19 variant cases have been found, are to receive additional doses.

Meanwhile, Chancellor Merkel has also called for the "emergency brake" to be pulled on easing in areas with an incidence rate over 100 per 100,000 people, which would reverse any lifting of measures announced earlier in the month.

This is being welcomed by healthcare processionals who are calling for a return to full nationwide lockdown over fears of strain on intensive care units.

Researchers at the northern German university of Greifswald say that they have potentially found the reason why a handful patients have developed brain thrombosis after taking the AstraZeneca jab. 

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Iolo ap Dafydd in London

As other European countries deal with new lockdowns, a third wave of infections, and vaccine shortages, there are fears about the knock-on effect in the UK. 

New variants, especially the strain originally found in South Africa, are also worrying the UK authorities despite more than 26 million being vaccinated in the country so far. There is also expected to be a slow-down in inoculating people between 50 and 59 years of age, and later the under-50s.

After a long lockdown in the UK and many receiving their first dose of the vaccine, many people are hoping of a return to sporting events, theater performances and normal life this summer. That includes travelling abroad for holidays in July and August. 

Under England's current lockdown regulations, protests are not listed as a 'reasonable excuse' for leaving home. But more than 60 MPs and peers have written to Home Secretary Priti Patel calling for a change in the pandemic legislation to allow protests to happen during lockdown. This follows allegedly heavy-handed police tactics last week at a vigil in London for Sarah Everard, who died this month in a suspected murder case.

France

Parisians packed on to inter-city trains leaving the capital and into shops on Friday before the French capital, along with around a third of the country's population, was put under a new partial lockdown on Saturday.

The government has stressed the new four-week measures will be less strict than two others imposed last year, with schools open and outdoor exercise allowed for an unlimited amount of time.

President Emmanuel Macron said: "What we want is to put a brake on the virus without shutting ourselves in. This is not being locked down." 

He added: "Strictly speaking, the term lockdown is not right." 

Despite travel curbs, many Parisians chose to leave the capital for areas with lighter restrictions, such as Brittany, the southwest Atlantic coast and Lyon in the southeast. Trains for those destinations were fully booked on Friday.  

France is using the AstraZeneca jab again, but only for over-55s, given that the reported blood clots issues being investigated were only seen in younger people. Seeking to reassure, French prime minister Jean Castex announced he had received his AstraZeneca jab on Friday.

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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.