TOP STORIES

- The World Health Organization has urged richer nations to donate vaccine doses instead of proceeding with jabs for children, as it warned the second year of the pandemic could be even deadlier. 

- In low and lower-middle income countries the vaccine supply has not been enough to even immunize health and care workers, "and hospitals are being inundated with people that need lifesaving care urgently," the WHO's chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said. 

- Portugal will let in tourists from most European countries from Monday the interior ministry said. People from European Union countries with coronavirus rates below 500 cases per 100,000 residents can travel to Portugal "including even non-essential visits," the ministry said in a statement. Restrictions remain in place for visitors from Cyprus, Croatia, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Sweden - plus Brazil, India and South Africa.

- Parties marking the end of severe COVID-19 social restrictions have spread east, after first appearing in Belgium and Spain last week. Bar owners and revelers celebrated in Warsaw in Poland on Friday night, as midnight struck and they were allowed to open their terraces. From Saturday face masks will not be required in public places. 

- Denmark has begun excavating the bodies of 4 million culled minks over environmental concerns. The commercially-bred animals were slaughtered in November over fears the rodents could transmit COVID-19 to humans. Seventeen million mink were killed, but locals worried the burials could affect the water basin. 

- The UK is set to ease lockdown restrictions on Monday, but the rising infection numbers attributed to the "Indian" variant could put the country's planned final stages of returning to normal life at risk. Scroll down for more from our correspondent in London, Iolo ap Dafydd. 

- Sticking with the UK, the British Army has been deployed to help vaccinations in so-called "hotspots" including Bolton and Blackburn in northern England. Testing is also being increased - for free - for residents across several towns and cities where case numbers are rising. 

- A health minister in Czechia is again facing difficulties - with allegations that Petr Arenberger has withheld information about his income. Czechia Prime Minister Andrej Babiš has asked him to explain tax irregularities. Arenberger is the fourth health minister for Czechia since the pandemic began. 

- A promotional video has led to Turkey's tourism minister facing criticism, after the "Go Turkiye" campaign offended many Turks. The clip encouraged holidaymakers to see Turkey as a "safe haven," but some in Turkey viewed the language as demeaning, and argued the branded face masks made them like "cattle."

- Watch: Explaining the COVID-19 variants – the dangers and the solutions. Click here to watch our Science show RAZOR explain the research identifying the different COVID-19 variants. Emma Keeling also looked into vaccines, as scientists are hopeful that the revolutionary mRNA vaccines will be sufficient to nullify the danger from mutations. 

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AROUND EUROPE 

Iolo ap Dafydd in London 

After months of self-congratulation over the vaccination program, the UK government's tone has changed. While COVID-19 cases have fallen, there's an increasing concern the variant first identified in India - B.1.617.2 - could force local lockdowns in parts of England. 

Scientists worry vaccines may not be able to counter the variant quickly enough. 

In a televised briefing on Friday Prime Minister Boris Johnson conceded he might not allow a full easing of restrictions after June 21. There could be serious disruptions because the variant is significantly more transmissible. The Chief Medical advisor, Professor Chris Whitty was more blunt. This variant is on course to "overtake and come to dominate" in the UK, he said. 

That will mean more localized control, faster vaccination for those who are clinically vulnerable and over 50-years-old, and possibly fewer choices for foreign holidays for most people.

The shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth has accused Boris Johnson of "reckless failure" over the variant, by not protecting the borders with daily flights arriving from India. The opposition Labour Party believes far more should have been done to restrict arrivals and improve quarantine rules.

Warsaw, Poland

As bars and restaurants got the go-ahead to reopen after six months of lockdown, parties sprung up in the Polish capital to mark a "second New Year's."

Zuzia Mockallo owns the Bar Studio in the center of the city, and described 200 days of closure as "very stressful and exhausting for different reasons, we didn't know if we could survive at all."

"I really feel that the emotions are a bit comparable with New Year, where everyone has huge expectations of the old year ending and a new opening... We are very happy and a little excited, a little nervous, but very emotional," she added.

"Life's just going back to normal," said Ania Pietrzak, who was one of Bar Studio's first customers. She said being able to light a cigarette without fear of being fined for not wearing a mask was important to her. 

On Friday Poland had 3,288 new coronavirus cases compared with a high of 35,251 on April 1. More than 35 percent of adults in Poland have received at least one dose of vaccine. 

Rahul Pathak in Madrid

Fears are growing within Spain's tourism industry that the sector's hoped-for recovery could be dashed by the on-going refusal of the UK to put Spain on its "green list" of safe countries to visit.

The low contagion rates in the Balearic and Canary islands raised hopes that they would be put on the green list.

However so far the UK has placed all of Spain in the "amber" category, meaning travelers returning to the UK from Spain must continue to provide a negative test on arrival, quarantine for 10 days and take two COVID-19 tests.

Spain's tourism minister, Reyes Maroto, says Britons can visit Spain from May 20 without a PCR test. But this is dependent upon the UK government removing regions with low contagion rates from the amber list.

In 2019, before the pandemic, Spain received more than 18 million tourists from the UK. 

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CGTN Europe has been providing in-depth coverage of the novel coronavirus story as it has unfolded.