TOP HEADLINES 

· Japan's Okinawa region suspended the use of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine on Sunday following the identification of another contamination, the local government said. It comes a day after the Japanese health ministry said it was investigating the death of two men who received shots from tainted Moderna batches - though the cause of their death is unknown. 

· Police scuffled with protesters as thousands of people marched through Berlin, Saturday, chanting slogans and waving banners against COVID-19 restrictions. Police said that some demonstrators tried to get past barricades to the government district around the Reichstag parliament building and clashed with officers. Four officers were injured, the Berliner Zeitung reported.

· Katalin Kariko, the Hungarian-born scientist who laid the groundwork for the mRNA vaccines fighting the virus, was honored with a huge mural in central Budapest. 

· The health minister said that fully-vaccinated Britons arriving in Italy with a negative test would no longer have to quarantine from Tuesday. Roberto Speranza tweeted Saturday that he had signed a decree ending "the mini-quarantine of five days" for visitors from the UK.

· British tennis player Andy Murray said receiving the vaccine is about looking out for the health of the "wider public." He hopes tennis players who are reluctant to get the jab will come around to see its many upsides. World number one Novak Djokovic reiterated his hopes that the vaccine would not become mandatory for players to compete. He has declined to answer questions about his vaccination status.

· A total of 160,000 people protested across France on Saturday, the interior ministry said, angered at the country's health pass system, which they say unfairly restricts the unvaccinated. By early evening the authorities had logged 222 separate protests, including 14,500 people who marched in Paris.

· The number of people in French hospital intensive care units due to COVID-19 dipped on Saturday for the first time in nine days, dropping by 11 to 2,259 in total. Since July 21, the number of patients in critical care had risen continuously, bar a small drop on August 19. 

· At least one region in Germany plans to impose stricter restrictions on people who are not vaccinated against COVID-19, as the country faces a fourth wave of the pandemic, a state official said Sunday.

AROUND EUROPE 

Rahul Pathak in Madrid

Along with much of the rest of the European Union, Spain has moved ahead of the UK in terms of its vaccination rate.

Denmark, Finland, and Portugal now have a greater percentage of their populations who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, despite initial problems with the bloc's distribution effort. 

Spain has pursued a policy of getting as many fully vaccinated as quickly as possible, with people able to get their second jab 21 days after receiving their first.

In contrast, UK citizens have to wait eight weeks before receiving their second dose of the vaccine.

Iolo ap Dafydd in London

While London's famous Notting Hill Carnival has was canceled once more, tens of thousands of people have gathered at music festivals in Leeds, Reading, and London this holiday weekend. With government restrictions on large gatherings removed in July, these popular events may increase cases.   

The government encourages people to socialize safely after branding large participation events at the British Grand Prix and the Wimbledon tennis tournament, a success. But EURO 2020 football matches and a surfing competition in Cornwall have led to a spike of new cases. 

According to the Office for National Statistics, infections in England are 26 times higher than last year amid fears that children returning to school and the upcoming, cooler, autumn weather will boost cases further. 

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