TOP HEADLINES

- The EU will further tighten COVID-19 vaccine exports to countries outside the bloc, including Britain, if drugmakers do not comply with their promised delivery timetables, according to an EU official. The move has prompted condemnation from World Trade Organization chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who said she was talking to the bloc about the measures.

- Spain will lift its ban on UK arrivals from March 30, three months after the government suspended flights for nearly all travelers.

- After U.S. health officials said AstraZeneca's efficacy report may not have been based on all the available data, the drugmaker agreed to publish up-to-date results from its latest vaccine trial within 48 hours. 

- Coronavirus testing has been made mandatory for medical, social care and education staff in Lithuania and anyone refusing the tests will have to work remotely or be suspended without pay.

- The Netherlands' coronavirus curfew will be shortened by an hour from next week, in spite of the country's rapid rise in new infections, according to local media reports.

- Norway Prime Minister Erna Solberg is being questioned by police over a potential breach of restrictions at her birthday party last month, for which she could be fined $1,165.

- More than a million Poles have signed up for the AstraZeneca jab in the past 24 hours, the country's prime minister's top aide has announced, saying it was a sign that confidence in the vaccine was returning. Despite the optimism, Poland is set to announce new restrictions for the next two weeks on Thursday.

- Germany will extend its lockdown until April 18, Chancellor Angela Merkel has said, adding that the government would ask citizens to stay at home over the Easter holidays in a bid to curb a "third wave" of cases.  

- France will open 35 mass-vaccination centers "in the coming days" and offer shots to anyone aged over 70 from this weekend. Government advisers have warned more restrictions could be necessary, as the number of people in intensive care units hit a new 2021 high of 4,634 on Tuesday.

- Fines of $6,900 will be handed out for people from England trying to travel abroad before the end of June without good reason, UK Health Minister Matt Hancock has said. However, he added the government had no plans to add all of Europe to its travel "red-list," which would involve mandatory quarantine in hotels on arrival.

- Spain will extend the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine to 18 to 65-year-olds when it resumes use of the jab this week, Health Minister Carolina Darias has said. 

- Denmark plans to ease restrictions next month, including opening up services including hairdressers, but the reopening of its economy would be reliant on "corona-passports," which show whether the holder has been vaccinated, infected or taken a test within the last 72 hours.

- The UK held a minute's silence to mark more than 126,000 deaths on the first anniversary of the country's lockdown. Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that a permanent statue would be erected to honor the victims. 

- Street artist Banksy's tribute to health workers, which shows a boy playing with a toy nurse as a superhero, has sold for $20 million at auction, a record price for his work.

- An Italian tech company has developed a way to detect coronavirus infections by analyzing a person's speech or cough, pushing up its shares by more than 13 percent. According to Neosperience president Dario Melpignano, the system is more than 80 percent accurate.

AROUND EUROPE

Ryan Thompson in Frankfurt

Germany is on track to have the longest-running national lockdown in Europe, after state premiers agreed overnight to extend shutdown measures until the middle of next month.

There had been consensus in early March that some relaxing of the rules was possible, but leaders opted not to end the lockdown and instead installed an "emergency brake" in case infections began to rise again.

With the national incidence rate over 100 per 100,000 for more than three consecutive days, they are now pulling that emergency trigger. Top epidemiologists at the Robert Koch Institute have warned of an "exponential increase" in cases by Easter.

Announcing the new rules overnight, Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters: "We face a new virus of the same kind but with very different characteristics. More deadly and more infectious." The revised lockdown aims to limit contact dramatically, especially during the Easter holiday. All businesses will be asked to close for five days, including essential ones.

Many are critical of the new measures, saying they are unlikely to be very effective. "You can tell who really holds power in this country: businesses, lawyers, churches, and Mallorca travelers," Christian Odendahl from the Centre for European Reform wrote on Twitter.

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Penelope Liersch in Budapest

Hungary has reported another day of record coronavirus deaths, 252 in the past 24 hours. The number of people in hospital and on ventilators is also the highest so far, 11,873 and 1,389 respectively.

Local media are reporting some hospitals have reached capacity and are converting extra floors into intensive care units. This is in contrast to Prime Minister Viktor Orban's assurances last week that the health care system could handle the rising number of hospitalizations.

It comes as the Hungarian medical chamber issued a statement saying the situation was more severe than ever. The group asked Hungarians to try to shop only once a week, avoid popular exercise areas, public transport and any meetings over Easter. The government is due to announce restrictions for the Easter period on Friday.

Czechia has now recorded more than 25,000 coronavirus deaths. The country has one of the highest per capita death tolls and numbers have more than doubled since the start of the year.

Ross Cullen in Paris

The number of people in intensive care in France is now more than 4,500, which is approaching the peak of 4,900 during the second wave last fall. 

More than 6 million people have now received their first dose of a vaccine and the government plans to open 35 "vaccinodromes," or mass-vaccination centres. 

A new slogan has been launched by the prime minister's office to try to communicate more clearly who you are allowed to see and where within the current restrictions: "Inside with family, outside with others."

The number of new cases registered on Monday was more than 15,000 – a very high number for a Monday, when there is usually a drop in infections due to fewer tests being carried out on Sundays.

Nawied Jabarkhyl in London

It's been one year since the UK first went into coronavirus lockdown. Since then, the country has officially recorded more than 126,000 deaths and seen its economy fare worse than any of its major rivals.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said every individual in the UK had shown "great spirit" during the 12 months. He will be among the many paying tribute with a moment of silence at midday.

Elsewhere, people traveling abroad from England next week will face the threat of an almost $7,000 fine if they don't have a valid reason for their journey. Politicians will vote on the measures on Thursday as part of new legal powers to fight the virus.

Stuart Smith in Brussels

In Belgium, the infection rate is up 40 percent compared with last week and the reproduction, or R, rate is above 1.14, meaning the rate of infection is increasing.

To try to deal with this, the Belgian government has decided on measures to push down that figure.

Contact analyses show schools are a major source of infection, so a return to full-time face-to-face teaching is being postponed for secondary school students until regular testing of teachers (and later, students) is possible. 

A plan to allow more people to gather for outdoor activities is also on hold indefinitely, while only window seats can now be used on trains to tourist destinations.

If the situation does not improve, Federal Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke says the timeline for reopening of schools (April 19) and cafes/restaurants (May 1) could be at risk.

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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.