TOP HEADLINES

· French President Emmanuel Macron said it was possible the vaccine will eventually be made compulsory in France, but that it is not a priority for now.

Like its European neighbors and countries across the globe, France is scrambling to find ways to contain a fresh surge of the pandemic. France's seven-day average of new infections is at its highest since November 2020.

Asked in an interview with TF1 and LCI television stations if COVID-19 vaccinations could become mandatory, Macron said: "This hypothesis exists."

· France announced that due to surging cases in Britain, only certain categories of people would be allowed to travel between the two countries, and anyone arriving from the UK would have to self-isolate.

However, truck drivers will be exempt from the new rules, the French government said, easing British concerns the restrictions could cause supply chain disruptions.

France said it was acting now because the Omicron variant, which scientists say appears to be highly infectious, is spreading rapidly in Britain.

· UK hospitals, particularly in London, are struggling to maintain staffing levels due to the number who are having to isolate, a senior emergency doctor said on Thursday.

Britain on Wednesday recorded its highest number of new daily coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic, with a further 78,610 COVID-19 infections reported.

"The acute problem is actually to do with staffing," Katherine Henderson, an emergency consultant in London and president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, told BBC Radio.

· The UK's Omicron wave could peak "really quite fast" and beat the daily record of COVID-19 patients entering hospital, Chris Whitty, England's chief medical officer said. 

"You could end up with a higher number than that going into hospital on a single day," he warned. "It is going to be really concentrated in a very short period of time." 

· A study found the Omicron variant can multiply about 70 times faster than the original and Delta strains in tissue samples taken from the bronchus, the main tubes from the windpipe to the lungs. 

The study, by a team from the University of Hong Kong, also found the new variant grew 10 times slower in lung tissue. The authors said it could be an indicator of the variant's lower severity.

· Crown Princess Amalia, the heir to the Dutch throne, invited 21 people to her 18th birthday party last week even as the government asked people not to have more than four guests amid surging cases.

Amalia, who had canceled indoor festivities because of the pandemic, held a last-minute gathering in the palace gardens, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte wrote to parliament on Wednesday.

The eldest daughter of King Willem-Alexander had been expected to quietly celebrate her birthday last Tuesday. Although no rules appear to have been broken, the event came as hospitals struggled to find beds for a surge in COVID-19 patients and concerns about the Omicron variant.

· Portugal's economy will grow by 4.8 percent this year, in line with a government forecast issued before the latest surge of the coronavirus in Europe, which has so far had little economic impact in Portugal, the country's finance minister told Reuters.

Joao Leao, who is part of the minority Socialist government facing a snap election on January 30, also said the budget deficit could end up slightly below this year's target of 4.3 percent of GDP, supported by higher tax revenues and a strong labor market.

· Australia cricket captain Pat Cummins has been ruled out of the second Ashes test against England after being identified as a close contact of a COVID-19 case, Cricket Australia said on Thursday. Cummins will need to isolate for seven days.

· The English Premier League soccer match between Leicester City and Tottenham Hotspur, which was scheduled to kick off later on Thursday, has been postponed due to a COVID-19 outbreak, British media said.

This is Spurs' third game to be called off due to COVID-19 following the club's Europa Conference League match against French side Rennes last week and a Premier League match against Brighton & Hove Albion over the weekend.

FROM OUR GLOBAL COLLEAGUES

CGTN EUROPE: Italian anti-vaxers hold COVID-19 contagion parties to get green pass

CGTN ASIA: Chinese mainland records 77 confirmed COVID-19 cases

CGTN AMERICA: U.S. COVID-19 death toll surpasses 800,000: JHU

CGTN AFRICA: Pfizer shot less effective against hospitalization in S. Africa: study