TOP HEADLINES

·  The European Union has lifted all COVID-19 travel restrictions for travelers coming from the U.S., Albania, North Macedonia, Serbia, Lebanon, China's Taiwan, Macau and Hong Kong in the latest update of its whitelist of countries and regions exempted from its travel ban.

· France has begun to vaccinate children aged between 12 and 17, but only under the condition that the parents give their explicit consent. The children will get the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine approved by EU regulators for that age group.

·  England has opened up its vaccination program to all adults above the age of 21, who will be able to book their jabs starting today.

·  UK authorities are set to introduce mandatory COVID-19 vaccination for 1.5 million staff in care homes in England, after cabinet minister Liz Truss was reported saying the decision was "very imminent."

·  EU chief Ursula von der Leyen is visiting Lisbon and Madrid, where she will begin approving plans submitted by the EU member states seeking funds from the bloc's $910 billion COVID-19 recovery fund approved last year. 

·  Trade unions in Italy have warned about a "massacre for employment" as the current COVID-19 ban on layoffs first introduced in February 2020 is set to expire at the end of June. The unions fear that the end of the emergency measures might leave "a million more unemployed."

·  New York has hit its vaccination target of 70 percent of its adult population having received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, which according to the state's governor Andrew Cuomo means a return to life "as we know it."

· China has agreed to send 500,000 doses of its Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine to Malaysia, said Malaysia's foreign minister Hishammuddin Hussein, as reported by Reuters.

READ MORE:

Detained Belarus journalist Protasevich says 'no one beat me'

Does Vienna have the answer to Europe's waste problem?

Swiss referendum rejects new climate laws

ACROSS EUROPE

Ross Cullen in Paris

The French prime minister is out of the seven-day COVID-19 isolation he has been undergoing since being identified last week as a possible contact case. 

Jean Castex has spent a week working from home after coming into contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19. The prime minister is fully vaccinated. 

The health minister says that the delay between the first and second doses of some vaccines can be reduced. The second shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines can now be scheduled to take place between 21 and 49 days after the first dose. Thirty-five days was the government's recommended minimum period to wait between the two doses.

Rahul Pathak in Madrid 

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will meet European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Madrid later to discuss the EU's COVID-19 recovery plan.

Spain will be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the $910 billion fund. The country is set to receive $167bn in total, half in direct payments the remainder in loans. 

Spain's economy, which depends so much on tourism, was particularly hard hit when the pandemic arrived at the beginning of 2020.

The money, which will be used to modernize Spain's economy, includes a $16bn investment to help boost electric vehicle use.

Sanchez said the recovery fund allows Spain to carry out reforms and investments that should have taken place a long time ago.

Penelope Liersch in Budapest 

Hungary's COVID-19 data continues to drop in all areas except for the number of people requiring ventilation – 53 people are on ventilators, nine more than Tuesday. 

Close to 30,000 people have died from COVID-19 in the country according to government data, with another nine passing away over the past 24 hours. 

Despite the daily death figures dropping significantly since April, Hungary is likely to record 30,000 deaths in the next couple of weeks. 

Meanwhile the Czech government is working to fast-track a new law which will allow people to vote while in quarantine. The country is holding a general election in October. 

Paul Barber in London

British lawmakers will debate and vote on the government's plan to extend emergency COVID-19 restrictions in England from June 21 to July 19 due to rising cases of the Delta variant. 

Some MPs from the governing Conservative party are set to vote against the delay but it is expected to pass with opposition Labour support. 

Meanwhile, media reports say the government will soon announce that all care home workers treating the elderly will be required to have a COVID-19 vaccine in the next 16 weeks or face losing their jobs. 

And a new monoclonal antibody therapy for the sickest coronavirus patients has been shown in a UK trial to cut death rates. Experts say for every 100 patients treated, six lives could be saved.

FROM OUR GLOBAL COLLEAGUES

CGTN Europe: Scientists use TikTok to educate about COVID-19 vaccine

CGTN China: Chinese mainland reports 21 new COVID-19 cases

CGTN America: California lifts restrictions in boost to economy

CGTN Africa: UNICEF chief: 33,000 children in Ethiopia's Tigray region face imminent death

Sign up here to get the COVID-19 Europe bulletin sent directly to your inbox.

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