TOP HEADLINES 

• German Chancellor Angela Merkel has indicated fully-vaccinated Britons could soon be able to travel to mainland Europe without having to quarantine. Speaking alongside British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on what is set to be her last visit to the UK as Chancellor, Merkel said the rules would likely be relaxed "in the foreseeable future."

• The Delta variant currently accounts for a third of all French coronavirus cases, representing "a real risk that the epidemic will pick up again this summer in France," according to health minister Olivier Veran. In neighboring Italy, the highly contagious variant accounts for nearly a quarter of all cases as of June 22, up from 1 percent in mid May.

• Despite reporting a new record for daily deaths five days in a row, Russia's government has said it will not implement new lockdown measures. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said instead the authorities would be rely on vaccinating as many people "as soon as possible."

• In spite of concerns raised by Angela Merkel, Boris Johnson said he had no plans to reduce crowd sizes at upcoming Euro 2020 soccer matches in the UK. Crowd capacity at London's Wembley arena is set to be increased to more than 60,000 fans for the semi-finals and final of Euro 2020 under a pilot scheme announced last week.

• Ryanair is experiencing a "huge uptick" in air travel across Europe, according to Group Chief Executive Michael O'Leary. "I think Europe, excluding Ireland, will recover to 75-80 percent of normal traffic volumes through July, August and September," O'Leary told Ireland's Newstalk radio station.

• Slovakia is launching a lottery with weekly prizes of up to 2 million euros for vaccinated people and bonuses to those who convince others to get the jab in a bid to combat the country's lagging vaccine uptake. 

• Bosnia has confirmed its first case of the Delta variant. According to local television, the variant was imported by a Spanish woman who was visiting the Catholic pilgrimage site Medjugorje in the southern Herzegovina region.

• Ukrainian authorities are investigating why a 47-year old man died just four hours after receiving a shot of the Pfizer vaccine. The health ministry said there may be no connection between his death and the jab, but national law and international standards require every death that occurs within 30 days of immunization to be investigated.

• Vaccinated people in Germany will not have to go into full lockdown again and will be able to enjoy more freedoms than unvaccinated people in case of another wave. Health minister Jens Spahn said that "being fully vaccinated means restrictions of the kind we saw last winter will not be necessary, needed or legally appropriate."

• Dutch researchers have found that in 20 percent of households where humans contracted coronavirus or had recovered from it, cats and dogs also had antibodies to the virus.

• The EU is working on a coordinated approach to approving the Indian version of AstraZeneca's shot, Covishield. The jab, which has been taken by around 5 million Britons, is yet to be approved by the European Medicines Agency and is not recognised under the bloc's new vaccine passport scheme. 

AROUND EUROPE

Nawied Jabarkhyl in London

Doctors' union the British Medical Association says some measures to reduce the spread of coronavirus should be kept in place after July 19.

That's the date UK prime minister Boris Johnson is set to relax most COVID-19 measures in England in the final step of the country's roadmap out of lockdown.

The BMA says people should continue to wear masks. The UK has witnessed a sharp rise in cases in the past few weeks, driven by the Delta variant.

Meanwhile, England's football team will play Ukraine in Rome in the last-16 of the Euro 2020 championships. Unlike most of their games so far - played in London - the English team will be without many fans as COVID-19 travel restrictions prevent Britons from traveling to Italy.

Portugal

Nearly half of Portugal's population has been placed under night-time curfew, with a ban on outdoor excursions between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. now in effect throughout 45 municipalities, including the capital of Lisbon and the city of Porto. 

The decision is a marked reversal from the country's planned reopening, with restaurants, cafes, and cultural venues in areas considered "high risk" or "very high risk" having to reduce their opening hours and capacities. Weekend travel between Lisbon and the rest of the country was banned two weeks ago as authorities continue to ramp up testing and vaccinations.

"The situation isn't comparable to the more difficult moments our country has faced during the past year and a half, but it's deteriorating," said government spokeswoman Mariana Vieira da Silva, announcing the measures on Thursday.

For the first time since mid-February, the number of daily new cases in Portugal has surpassed the 2,000-mark, around four times the amount of cases seen in Spring, with the number of hospitalizations more than doubling since the end of May.

Slovakia

Slovakia has had to sell most of its Russian Sputnik V shots back to their country of origin due to lack of public interest in taking vaccines that don't have European regulatory approval.

In the latest instalment in the Balkan nation's political fiasco over Sputnik V that led to former-Prime Minister Igor Matovic's resignation, Slovakia has shipped back 160,000 out of 200,000 doses to Russia - luckily, at the same price as the original purchase.

Matovic was forced to step down after originally intending to buy 2 million doses of the jab without telling his coalition partners and without EU approval for the Russian vaccine. However, he has now returned to government as finance minister following a cabinet reshuffle. 

The government has since approved Sputnik V, but interest remains comparatively low, as does general vaccine uptake, which is lagging over 4 percent behind the EU average with just 28.7 percent of the population fully vaccinated. In response, Slovakia will launch a lottery with weekly prizes of up to 2 million euros for those vaccinated and bonuses worth between 30 and 90 euros to those who convince others to get the jab. 

FROM OUR GLOBAL COLLEAGUES

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