TOP STORIES

- No alcohol, no autographs, no singing - and definitely no sex: New Olympic COVID-19 rules are strict, but with everyone's safety in mind, according to organizers. Drinking will be banned inside stadiums, as will "making direct contact with other spectators," asking for autographs, or "expressing verbal support," in other words – cheering is banned. Spectators need to pass temperature checks and wear masks and no refunds are available for those who don't. 

- Tokyo 2020 President Seiko Hashimoto said the rules will make the 2021 Games very different from past events, including the ongoing Euro 2020 football tournament. "In Europe, the venues are filled with celebration… Unfortunately, we may not be able to do the same," she explained. 

- Organizers have already told athletes not to use the free condoms supplied in the athletes' village, but to take them home as souvenirs instead. 

- Sticking with sport, and those Euro 2020 crowds: the World Health Organization highlighted problems with increasing stadium capacity quickly. Robb Butler, executive director of WHO Europe, said host cities are already reporting spikes in cases. 

- Meanwhile, European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen has been to one of the host cities, Rome, but not to watch the game. Instead, she visited Italy's leader Mario Draghi to formally accept the country's $228 billion recovery plan (which uses the largest slice of the EU's $896 billion recovery fund). 

- Today, Von Der Leyen will travel from Rome to Paris and back to her base in Brussels to accept the French and Belgian recovery plans. 

- A report from European policing agency Europol says the pandemic helped the spread of terrorist and extremist ideologies. Increased time online, and in isolation, has given vulnerable people more chances to fall into violent patterns or thoughts. It said increased stress in 2020 deriving from the pandemic has also increased intolerance for political opponents – even for people with moderate views. 

- The UK government will not insist on vaccination for delegates to this year's COP26 UN climate conference. The November event will be held in Glasgow, and organizers will "strongly recommend" delegates are vaccinated before they travel, but it will not be mandatory. 

- Finally, Angela Merkel is officially double-jabbed. Germany's Chancellor, who will step down in just three months after 15 years at the top of European politics, has received a Moderna dose after getting an AstraZeneca jab on April 16, the Chancellery in Berlin confirmed.

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AROUND EUROPE 

Penelope Liersch in Budapest 

The Hungarian government has reopened border points with Croatia, Romania, Austria, Serbia, Slovenia and Slovakia. 

So far, Hungary has reached an agreement with 17 countries, most recently Kazakhstan, to mutually recognize each other's vaccination certificates. This allows citizens to travel freely between the two countries if they can show proof of COVID-19 vaccination, regardless of which vaccination they have received.  

The Hungarian government has extended an offer to neighboring countries for people in border areas to receive COVID-19 vaccines in Hungary. Vaccination will be offered from July to people from these areas. 

Meanwhile, Poland has introduced a mandatory seven-day quarantine for British travelers due to concerns over the Delta COVID-19 variant now dominant in the UK. Travelers from Britain will need to isolate, even if they provide a negative test result before arriving in Poland. They will then be tested after seven days. The quarantine rules will not apply to travelers who have been fully vaccinated.

Ryan Thompson in Frankfurt

On Wednesday evening, new data from the Robert Koch Institute for Infectious Diseases will provide insight on the spread of the Delta COVID-19 variant in Germany. Officials are watching closely to see if the percentage of cases carrying the mutation rises from 6 percent, the most recent figure. Though experts warn that figure could be lagging because of the time it takes for samples to be sequenced in laboratories. 

We reported Tuesday about the efforts to monitor the Delta variant through sequencing. Roughly 10 percent of positive tests are sent to special laboratories in Germany.

Unlike in the UK, where the variant represents more than 90 percent of new cases, Germany is continuing to see a sharp decline in cases. Some 1,061 new infections were reported Wednesday morning and the national seven-day incidence rate remained below 10. 

Virologists say Germany is in a stronger position than the UK to keep the Delta variant at bay. However, they underscore that it depends on an essential factor: the vaccination progress in Germany.

Nicole Johnston in London

Travel companies and the airline industry are holding a "day of action" on Wednesday, in protest against the British government's restrictions on international travel. 

Europe has now entered the summer holiday period but the number of so-called green list countries UK travelers can visit without quarantining when they return home is limited. Portugal was on the list but now it has been taken off. 

Demonstrations will be held outside parliament buildings in all four constituent nations of the UK. Data for June indicate the UK's aviation industry has been the hardest hit in Europe.

Ross Cullen in Paris

"The Delta variant worries us," said Gabriel Attal, France's government spokesman. Speaking to breakfast media on French TV and radio, Attal said "we must be very vigilant" as the Delta mutation gains ground in neighbors such as the UK. 

France has more or less completely opened up after the "lockdown-lite" in the spring. Bars, restaurants, sports centers and cinemas are open again and the national curfew has been removed. 

All the teams taking part in this year's Tour de France – which starts in Brittany on Saturday – must show a French government sanitary pass in order to be able to compete. Competitors and spectators must prove they have been vaccinated or that they have had a negative PCR test in the previous three days or that they have contracted COVID-19 recently and have recovered from it (though how this will be policed on more than 3,000km of French roads is unclear). 

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