TOP HEADLINES

• The global death toll from the coronavirus pandemic is now above 2,847,000 since the outbreak started, according to a tally from official sources compiled by the AFP news agency on Sunday.

• Slovakia's COVID-19 death toll has passed 10,000. The central European country of 5.5 million reported 77 new deaths on Sunday, bringing the total to 10,025 since the start of the pandemic.

• Greece is extending restrictions on domestic flights until April 12 and on international flights until April 19 as the country reported 78 new deaths – the highest this year. Passengers flying to Greece must receive a negative PCR test 72 hours before arrival and undergo random testing for COVID-19.

• Portugal has extended restrictions on travel via land and sea to Spain that had been due to end this weekend until April 15. The two countries imposed the restrictions on January 28 to contain the spread of COVID-19.

• Germany will place the Netherlands in the category of high-risk zones due to elevated numbers of COVID-19 cases, Berlin's infectious disease agency said. From Tuesday, travelers from the Netherlands will have to present proof of a negative coronavirus test to enter Germany.

• A total of 42,308 infections have been reported in Turkey in the last 24 hours, the biggest jump since the beginning of the pandemic. The country will be under a full nationwide weekend lockdown for the month of Ramadan, starting on 13 April. 

• The UK government is set to launch nine "vaccine passport" pilot events from mid-April, including three soccer showpieces at Wembley and four night-time entertainment trials in Liverpool. COVID-19 vaccinations will not be necessary for those taking part in events, says the University of Liverpool's Iain Buchan.

• Italy reported 326 COVID-19 deaths on Sunday against 376 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections decreased to 18,025 from 21,261.

• Pope Francis urged Catholics to remain hopeful in his Easter Sunday address, calling vaccines an "essential tool" in ending the pandemic and urging their swift roll-out to the world's poorest countries.

• Bulgarians are voting today to elect a new parliament as the country battles a third wave of infections that has seen hospital admissions spike.

• Russia reported another 8,817 new COVID-19 cases, pushing the number of infections registered in the country to 4,580,894 since the pandemic began last year. And 357 people had died from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, taking Russia's pandemic death toll to 100,374.

• As announced earlier in the week, French virus curbs that had been imposed in hard-hit regions have now been extended nationwide, including the closure of shops deemed non-essential.

ACROSS EUROPE

Andrew Wilson in the UK 

More than five million people in the UK have had their second dose of a coronavirus vaccine. The uptake in people getting the AstraZeneca vaccine is not slowing, despite some European countries pausing their roll-outs over concerns about links to rare blood clots.

Government plans for a COVID-19 passport scheme will start to be trialed this month at a series of pilot events. These would show whether a person is vaccinated, had a recent negative test, or natural immunity determined by a positive test in the last six months.

The prime minister's office said it did not want the scheme, which it is describing as "COVID-status certification", to be used on public transport or in essential shops. The trials are aimed at larger group events like sporting fixtures.

The government is also preparing for foreign holidays to go ahead this summer, with a "traffic light" system of rules in which travel to "green light" destinations will not require quarantine, although pre-departure and post-arrival tests will still be needed.

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Rahul Pathak in Madrid

Reports are claiming a baby born in Ibiza last week has become the first newborn in Spain with coronavirus antibodies. The mother was diagnosed as having COVID-19 during her pregnancy.

A sample from the baby's umbilical cord confirmed that he had developed antibodies against COVID-19. Health experts say the baby's protection from coronavirus is equivalent to that of someone who'd been vaccinated.

The baby, named Bruno, is part of a study on the impact of the virus on pregnant women. It is thought the result could open up the possibility of vaccinating pregnant women to immunize both themselves and their babies, who receive the antibodies through the placenta.

France

Even with a new round of restrictions coming into force this week, Health Minister Olivier Veran predicts that infections in France will peak only in mid-April, while hospital admissions will continue to rise until the end of the month.

Alarming forecasts leaked to the French media from the Paris public hospital authority AP-HP last week showed there will be be between 2,800 and 4,400 people in intensive care units in the Paris region by the end of April, even with a strict lockdown. In the first wave, the number peaked at 2,700.

Paris is going through a third wave of the pandemic, which risks putting even more strain on saturated hospitals than the first wave in March and April last year. Some medics working in Paris hospitals have not had a break since last summer and many will be canceling a planned break this month.

FROM OUR GLOBAL COLLEAGUES

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