TOP HEADLINES 

• The chief of Germany's Robert Koch Institute health agency has warned the "harder to curb" third wave could be the worst yet – with as many as 100,000 new cases per day – and asked for people to use the Easter holidays to reduce contact with others. 

• Germany has added several European countries including France, Austria, Denmark and Czechia to its high-risk list, meaning visitors must provide a recent negative coronavirus test and go into quarantine.

• Italy's southern Campania region has signed an agreement to buy Russia's Sputnik V vaccine once the shot's use in Europe becomes authorized, the regional governor said on Friday.

• Italy will let many school classes reopen next month, even in COVID-19 hotspots, but a broader relaxation of curbs will depend on infection rates. "The situation remains very worrying," said Prime Minister Mario Draghi. 

• Turkey's top medical group the TTB has demanded the government tighten restrictions amid a surge in infections, calling the current conditions a "social assassination."

• Spaniards cut back on alcohol and almost halved their binge-drinking during the pandemic – but the consumption of unprescribed sedatives increased and internet use jumped, according to a survey by Spain's Observatory for Drugs and Addiction. 

• There is "no scientific reason" to stop people who have been vaccinated from visiting one another, according to Tim Spector, who leads the COVID-19 Symptom Tracker app study at King's College London. 

• Hungary, which reported a record daily death-toll of 275 on Friday, will not loosen lockdown measures until a quarter of the population is vaccinated, according to a senior aide of Prime Minister Viktor Orban. 

• Serbia has begun vaccinating its migrant population to curb infections in refugee camps, where social distancing is a challenge. 

• UK-based carrier Virgin Atlantic is to start digital health pass trials, testing the International Air Transport Association's (IATA) Travel Pass on its London to Barbados route from April 16; Barbados has said it will accept the pass instead of paper checks.

• Poland reported a record number of new infections for the third consecutive day on Friday, with 35,143 new cases.

• Romania, which reported its highest rise in cases this year, of 6,651, extended a night-time curfew, but will relax movement restrictions for pending religious holidays. 

• Ukraine registered a record daily high of 18,132 new cases, Health Minister Maksym Stepanov said, up on the previous day's record of 16,669. 

• Russia's overall caseload has passed the 4.5 million mark, after authorities reported 9,167 new infections in the last 24 hours. An extra 405 deaths pushed the toll to 97,017.

• Oxford University is to launch a study investigating immune responses of a nasal administration of its COVID-19 vaccine developed with AstraZeneca, with 30 health volunteers aged 18 to 40 for the initial trial. 

• Britain's medicine regulator has approved a 20-second COVID-19 test, the product's distributor said on Friday as it launched a testing system it said could be used in airports, sports venues and businesses. 

ACROSS EUROPE

Penelope Liersch in Budapest

Hungary has again recorded a record daily number of COVID-19 deaths. This time, 275 people have passed away in the last 24 hours while nearly 12,000 people are in hospital.  

The prime minister announced the daily figures in his weekly radio interview, insisting vaccination is the way out of the pandemic. He reiterated that the country can not begin to reopen until 2.5 million people and anyone registered aged over 65 has had a vaccine. The reopening of schools has been officially pushed back to at least April 19, with the government changing its stance to prioritize vaccinating teachers and staff before they return.  

From Saturday, there are expected to be new rules for shoppers, with fewer people allowed in stores. However shops will be able to open longer, likely to close at 9 p.m. with the 8 p.m. curfew extended by two or three hours. The final details will be announced after an operational meeting on Friday.

Stuart Smith in Brussels

Belgium will publish a ministerial decree on Friday, putting into effect new restrictions announced on Wednesday. From the weekend, entry to non-essential shops will be by appointment only. Classes at all levels of education must move back online and close-contact services such as hairdressers and nail bars must close.

But it's being described only as a partial lockdown, as people can still move around within Belgium without restriction and meet up to four other people outdoors. The restrictions are due to last for four weeks.

The so-called "Easter pause" comes as Prime Minister Alexander De Croo says coronavirus rates are increasing "sharply" in Belgium.

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Ross Cullen in Paris

"The coming days and weeks will be difficult, we must be open about that." So said President Emmanuel Macron after the first day of online meetings at the latest European Council, adding that there will be "new measures to take." 

Macron also said that "we had reasons not to go back into lockdown earlier in the year" but added tha he has "no me culpa, no remorse" over France's strategy to avoid a third lockdown.

However, a leading epidemiologist said: "I do not see how [we can avoid] a national lockdown." While a top neurologist said of the death toll: "It's as if an A320 [plane] is crashing every day, and we have a tendency to forget that, but it's unacceptable."

The health secretary said three new regions in France are going into partial shutdown "braking measures." Olivier Veran said more younger people are testing positive for COVID-19 and are being admitted to hospital due to more older people receiving vaccinations. Meanwhile, Germany is going to class France as a high-risk country, something Angela Merkel said "is a necessity" due to the flaring health situation here.

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