TOP HEADLINES

• G7 Health Ministers will meet in-person at Oxford University. Representatives from the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the U.S. will pledge at today's meeting to "combat future health threats by working together to identify early warning signs from animals and the environment". There will also be discussions on clinical trials, global health security, antimicrobial resistance and digital health.

• Seven EU member states - Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Croatia and Poland have begun using the 'EU's Digital COVID certificate' to facilitate travel across the bloc. 

• Portugal has approved plans to further relax COVID-19 restrictions on the country's mainland from June 14, with some exceptions. Working from home will no longer be compulsory while cafes, shops, cinemas and theaters will be able to stay open until midnight. At sports events, stadia will be allowed up to 33 percent occupancy but nightclubs will remain closed. 

• French president Emmanuel Macron says 12-18 year-olds can be vaccinated from 15 June, which is also when France hopes to achieve its goal of getting 30 million people vaccinated. 

• Air travel associations say that there is concern that lengthy health checks in airports across Europe this summer will increase waiting times dramatically. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) says travel is currently at 30 percent of that before the COVID-19 pandemic. There are also reports that waiting times could become as long as five and a half hours as traffic climbs to 75 percent of pre-pandemic levels. 

• More than 20 healthcare organizations, including those which represent nurses, doctors, surgeons and therapists, are calling for stricter UK guidelines to be introduced on face masks and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). In a virtual meeting with officials, they will say existing rules leave medical staff vulnerable to infection through air, particularly with new COVID-19 variants. 

• French authorities have launched a criminal investigation following a fire partially destroying a COVID-19 vaccination center. The blaze broke out on Tuesday night in Gap in the Hautes-Alpes region and authorities suspect it may have been an arson attack. 

• Sixty diplomats from EU member states in Belarus have received one-dose of the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine in Lithuania, said foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis. EU-registered vaccines are not available in Belarus. 

• UK health minister Matt Hancock has warned of a "deadly threat" from fake news, saying that it "travels fast". He also said at the Global Vaccine Confidence Summit in the UK that the international threat of vaccine hesitancy is creating a "worldwide pandemic of misinformation". 

ACROSS EUROPE 

Penelope Liersch in Budapest

Poland continues to loosen coronavirus restrictions, with the number of guests allowed at large gatherings like weddings to increase from 50 to 150. The changes will come into force from June 6 but those who are fully vaccinated won't be included in the limit. The number of people allowed at conferences and on public transport will also increase. 

In total, 18 oxygen concentrators have been flown from Poland to India to help fight the pandemic. Meanwhile the Hungarian government says the country will donate 30 ventilators to Tunisia and Moldova. 

In Slovakia authorities insist the country's COVID-19 situation is improving, despite the nation still being in the European red tier. Authorities have said the wrong data was sent to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), resulting in stricter travel rules being applied to Slovakia. It's hoped the country can switch to the orange tier starting next Monday. 

Toni Waterman in Brussels 

The EU drugs regulator has given Pfizer the go-ahead to expand manufacturing and filling lines at its production plant in Puurs, Belgium. The European Medicines Agency said it expected the approval to have a "significant and immediate impact on the supply" of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine, which it developed with Germany's BioNTech. 

The agency added that the plant had been "consistently producing high-quality vaccines" so it was confident it could increase volumes. Pfizer is a main supplier of vaccines to the EU. Last month, the EU Commission clinched a third contract with the company for an additional 1.8 billion doses through 2023.

Ross Cullen in Paris 

The French president has announced the opening of the vaccination campaign to children aged 12 and over from the middle of this month. The government says teenagers will be vaccinated on a voluntary basis. June 15 was meant to be the date in France when all adults aged 18+ could get the shot but the government has been bringing forward its planned dates. 

More than 26 million people have had at least one COVID-19 shot and more than 11 million have had both doses. The prime minister says the government's aim is for at least 30 million people to have had their first jab by the middle of this month.

FROM OUR GLOBAL COLLEAGUES

CGTN Europe: European summer comes closer as seven countries roll out COVID-19 certificates for travel

CGTN China: Over 700 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines administered in China

CGTN America: The Heat: WHO approves second Chinese vaccine

CGTN Africa: Kenyan health workers dash for second COVID-19 jabs

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