TOP HEADLINES 

• Russia's Saint Petersburg posted record COVID-19 deaths on Monday as it prepares to host a Euro 2020 quarter-final, despite the spread of the Delta variant in the city.

• Throughout Russia, there were a reported 20,616 new COVID-19 cases recorded on Tuesday. The government coronavirus task force said 652 people had died in the past 24 hours, a record daily high, pushing the national death toll to 134,545.

• Germany's interior minister has urged the British government and European football's governing body UEFA to reduce the number of supporters admitted to London's Wembley stadium for the last matches of the Euro 2020 tournament, as case numbers continue to rise in the UK.

• All young Greeks between 18 and 25 will be offered a prepaid card worth 150 euros ($179) upon receiving their first COVID-19 vaccine dose. Youngsters can use the card to pay for airline, ship, or train tickets, accommodation costs in hotels and campsites, as well as entrance fees to music concerts, theaters, cinemas, museums and archaeological sites.

• Short-term work contracts, due to the pandemic, are pushing down German workers' wagers. The index of nominal wages in Germany fell by 0.7 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2021, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) announced on Monday.

• British ministers condemned the "disgusting" harassment of the government's top medical adviser, Chris Whitty, after footage emerged on social media of two men grabbing him around the head as he walked down the street. 

• Ireland's government is to decide whether to permit only those who are fully vaccinated to eat and drink inside bars and restaurants.

• The Delta variant now represents some 20 percent of the cases in France, Health Minister Olivier Veran told France Info radio, up from a previous estimate of it representing 9 to 10 percent of cases.

• To the east, Germany said on Monday that new cases caused by the Delta variant had more than doubled over a week. 

• UK house prices jumped by the most in more than 16 years this month, up 13.4 percent from June 2020, and demand is expected to stay strong. While a coronavirus emergency tax break remains in place, mortgage lender Nationwide said.

• Europe's development bank on Tuesday forecast better-than-expected economic recovery this year across its geographical regions of investment following COVID-19-induced slumps.

• Poland is considering making vaccination obligatory for those most at risk from the virus, such as health service workers, the health minister said, as the country seeks to counter resistance among those not yet inoculated.

• Wimbledon spectators paid tribute to Sarah Gilbert, the Oxford University professor who co-designed the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, giving her a standing ovation on Centre Court before play began at the annual tennis tournament.

ACROSS EUROPE 

Nawied Jabarkhyl in London

Ministers in the UK are considering plans to avoid entire groups of school students self-isolating if one catches the coronavirus.

The policy has led to hundreds of thousands of pupils missing lessons, with 172,000 out of school because of it in June alone.

Instead, schools could test students daily – a plan that is likely to face resistance from unions, which say teachers are already overburdened.

Penelope Liersch in Budapest 

There are concerns Slovakia's COVID-19 situation could change quickly if the Delta variant spreads within the community. Most of the country is currently under very mild restrictions following a general downtrend in infections.

However, two cases of the Delta variant were confirmed in Slovakia on Monday. The infected came from abroad and were not vaccinated. It's understood authorities are planning to introduce a stricter border regime, including more intensive border checks, stricter imposing of rules, mostly around quarantine – and the better tracing of positive cases and their contacts.

Meanwhile, Bratislava is the only city in Slovakia that may reach collective immunity by getting three-quarters of the population fully vaccinated, according to the city's mayor. Currently, 52.5 percent of its inhabitants have received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. 

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