TOP HEADLINES

- Authorities in northern Germany appealed to thousands of people on Tuesday to get another shot of COVID-19 vaccine after a police investigation found that a Red Cross nurse may have injected them with a saline solution.

- As Germany's vaccination drive slows, Chancellor Angela Merkel says people who haven't come forward for their vaccine won't be able to partake fully in public life unless they do so.

- Portugal has recommended children aged between 12 and 15 be vaccinated before the start of the next academic year as cases continue to rise. There are approximately 400,000 young people in that age group.

- Vaccinations for 12- to 15-year-olds in Ireland will begin on Saturday, just a week after the country extended its vaccination drive to 16- to 17-year-olds. Children will receive either the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine. 

- Revised figures from Public Health England suggest the age-adjusted annualized mortality rate was lowest for the Black/Black British ethnic group. The highest age-adjusted mortality rate for the year from June 2020 to June 2021 was for the Asian/Asian British ethnic group, with a rate more than two-and-a-half times higher than that for White/White British people.

- The UK government has also revealed that more than 75 percent of UK adults have now received two doses of a vaccine.

- In Spain, hospitalizations are at last beginning to fall as the country battles a fifth wave of the virus, but intensive care unit (ICU) admissions and fatalities remain high. A total of 20.8 percent of all ICU beds across the country are occupied by COVID-19 patients.

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AROUND EUROPE

Nawied Jabarkhyl in London

Children aged 16 and 17 in the UK have been invited for COVID-19 vaccines this week as one senior scientist advising the government said it was a "delicate balance" whether or not to vaccinate them, according to the BBC.

UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid says a third coronavirus booster jab is likely to be rolled out for a select number of people in the coming months, despite some health experts calling for surplus vaccines to be shared with poorer countries.

And London's Heathrow Airport says more than 1.5 million passengers passed through it last month, making it the busiest month since March last year, when lockdowns began to severely impact the travel industry.

Ryan Thompson in Frankfurt

Germany will implement so-called "3G rules" from August 23, in a bid to curb rising infections. 

The new regulations are the result of a federal-state resolution reached by Chancellor Angela Merkel and 16 state premiers on Tuesday, which require visitors to large events, personal care facilities, hotels, indoor sporting and dining venues to have a negative test, vaccination certificate or certificate of recovery. From October 11, citizens will be required to pay for their own tests if they decide not to get the jab between now and then. 

3G refers to the German words geimpft (vaccinated), getestet (tested) and genesen (recovered). The new policy is similar to the "health pass" system that's been rolled out in other EU countries such as France and Italy.

Penelope Liersch in Budapest

Serbia's government crisis team says there will be a definite need to tighten up the COVID-19 measures in the country, for example by restricting restaurant opening hours. Local media report a decision on new measures will be made in the next few days. The number of registered coronavirus infections increased by more than 700 in Serbia on Tuesday and deaths are continuing to rise. 

In Hungary, after weeks of stagnation, the number of new infections, patients in hospital and those needing ventilation has risen slightly this week.

Ross Cullen in Paris

France's President Emmanuel Macron is chairing an online meeting of the government's health defense council on Wednesday, as senior ministers discuss the vaccination program and what has been described as an "extremely serious" situation in the French Caribbean. Health authorities in Guadeloupe have said they are "living a human catastrophe." The overseas territories minister said: "We are going to have to tighten the lockdown in Guadeloupe."

The incidence rate of COVID-19 on Guadeloupe is more than 1,100 per 100,000 inhabitants. Such high rates have not been seen in France or French territories since the start of the pandemic. A strict lockdown is already in place in Martinique and a state of health emergency is going to be reimposed in French Polynesia.

Toni Waterman in Brussels

According to the head of Brussels' health inspectorate, young people and returning travelers are behind the rise in COVID-19 infections in the capital region.

In the past two weeks, the incidence rate has more than doubled – with the most infections concentrated in the 20 to 29-year-old age group.

"In comparison with other large cities, proportionally we have a very young population, which is less vaccinated, but our most at-risk population is really well vaccinated," Inge Neven said at a press conference. 

Vaccination rates are higher among older age groups, though, with more than 80 percent of people 65 and older having received at least one dose of a vaccine.

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