TOP HEADLINES

• England's day for easing all lockdown restrictions, fixed for June 21, is set to be delayed by four weeks, as experts suggest postponing the date will allow vaccination efforts to go ahead and help keep thousands out of already-strained hospitals. Prime Minister Boris Johnson's official announcement is expected at 6 p.m. local time. The Delta variant currently accounts for more than 90 percent of new infections in the country.

• The G7 leaders have pledged to donate 870 million COVID-19 vaccine doses directly to middle- and lower-income countries and finance an additional 130 million doses to reach 1bn in total, falling short of WHO recommendation that 11 billion doses will be necessary to extend immunization to poorer countries.

• German officials hinted that mandatory mask-wearing could soon come to an end as the country is recording a steady drop in infections. At the moment, wearing a face mask is compulsory in public indoor spaces, including school, public transport and busy streets.

• Denmark lifted mask rules on Monday, keeping the use of them mandatory only on public transport.

• A new clinical trial conducted by American pharmaceutical firm Novavax in the U.S. and Mexico showed its two-shots vaccine had an efficacy of 100 percent at preventing moderate to severe illness.

• A new spike of infections in Russia, led in part by vaccine avoidance due to fear of the Sputnik V jab, has pressured authorities to tighten lockdown restrictions in Saint Petersburg, which is hosting several matches at the Euro 2020 football tournament. Fans attending the games will be forced to wear a mask and no food will be served at the events.

• The Copa America, which crowns the best national football team in Latin America, has begun in Brazil among fierce protests. "Copa no, vaccines yes," read signs held by Brazilians outside of the stadium, who fear the tournament could only exacerbate the already tragic COVID-19 outbreak in the country.

ACROSS EUROPE

Ross Cullen in Paris

The national 9 p.m. curfew is proving hard to police as people continue to flout the nightly shutdown in France. 

Outdoor parties with hundreds of people dancing without face masks were held in Paris this weekend despite the risks of $160 fines for anyone breaking the curfew. 

The head of the Paris hospitals group forecasts July 1 as the day when the obligation to wear a face mask outside in public can be removed. Jerome Salomon says the mask-wearing measure could be relaxed "if everything goes well." 

Meanwhile, vaccination centers are preparing to open the jab campaign to children aged 12 and over. There are 5 million teenagers in France but the government's vaccination chief says the issue is not about getting youngsters to receive the jab but trying to convince the 65+ age group to trust the vaccines.

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Penelope Liersch in Budapest 

The health minister for Czechia says teenagers aged 12 and above could start receiving the Pfizer vaccine from September. The country is currently offering vaccine registrations for anyone aged 16 and above. 

Last week, Hungary announced parents can begin registering their children if they wish. Poland, Slovakia and Romania have already begun inoculating 12 to 15-year-olds after the European Medicines Agency approved the Pfizer vaccine for that age group. 

Czechia registered 42 new cases on Sunday, which is the lowest daily increase in around 12 months. From Monday, outdoor venues in the country can hold up to 2,000 people in total and don't have to leave empty seats for spacing. Standing tickets to outdoor events can be sold again as of June 14. 

President Milos Zeman has noted capacity for events may increase to 5,000 outdoors and 2,000 indoors as of July, if the situation continues to improve. 

Ryan Thompson in Frankfurt

The end to mandatory mask-wearing outdoors looks just around the corner in Germany: Health Minister Jens Spahn has suggested falling infection levels are sufficient enough to sustain the first stage of loosening mask rules, with policy changes possible in the next 10 days.

On Sunday, Germany's justice minister suggested some mask-wearing is no longer constitutional and called on the federal states to review whether mandatory mask-wearing is still necessary. The states must clarify "whether and where a mask requirement is still proportionate, given that the incidence figures are low and continue to fall," Lambrecht told the Bild Zeitung newspaper.

Toni Waterman in Brussels

Belgium has staged a dramatic turnaround in its fight against COVID-19, going from a country with one of the highest infection and death rates in the world, to now the fastest country in the EU when it comes to immunizations. 

According to Our World in Data, Belgium administered an average of 1.27 vaccines per 100 inhabitants in the past week. That compares with the EU average of 0.91. 

More than 60 percent of the adult population has now received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while a third are fully vaccinated. The high inoculation rate has helped push the number of new infections down to 882 a day in the past week, a 40 percent plunge from the week before. Death rates are also way down, averaging 8.6 a day.

Nicole Johnston in London

The UK government is expected to announce on Monday at 6 p.m. (GMT) that the planned full reopening of the economy and society will be delayed by four weeks.

For more than a week the government had been indicating that rising infections would likely necessitate a delay.

The continued restrictions mean nightclubs will remain closed, limited indoor dining, working from home and theatres with reduced capacity.

The spread of the Delta variant in the UK has led to the move. It's now responsible for 91 percent of new infections and is 60 percent more transmissible than the Alpha variant.

The other concern is that having one dose of a vaccine will only provide 33 percent protection against the Delta variant according to Public Health England. Two doses of the vaccine will increase this to over 80 percent.

FROM OUR GLOBAL COLLEAGUES

CGTN Europe: Mixing and matching AstraZeneca and Pfizer works, say WHO experts

CGTN China: Chinese mainland reports 23 new COVID-19 cases

CGTN America: Sinovac vaccine cuts COVID-19 deaths among Uruguayan adults by 95%: study

CGTN Africa: Bahrain: Sputnik V jab has 94.3 pct efficacy, 'high safety profile’

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