A dramatic day awaits in the Netherlands as the government fights to maintain its overnight Covid curfew. Mark Rutte's caretaker government will appeal this morning against a court’s decision to lift the 21:00-04:30 curfew because ministers used national emergency legislation. In case the appeal fails, a new curfew law will be heard by the upper house of parliament to replace it.
Germany has reportedly appointed a special commissioner to help speed up the supply of vaccines. Spiegel website says Christoph Krupp’s job will be to help companies accelerate production and act as their point man with the government. Germany has so far given almost three million people, 3.6% of the population, an initial dose.
France has increased isolation periods for people infected with Covid-19 from seven to 10 days. Health minister Olivier Véran says some scientific studies suggest new variants mean you could be infectious for longer. France says one million people have now had both shots of the Covid vaccine.
Italy’s new PM Mario Draghi easily won his confidence vote by MPs last night by 535 votes to 56. The former head of the European Central Bank won backing across the political spectrum, from the centre-left to the far right.
If you work at the Vatican and refuse to get vaccinated you could lose your job under a new decree. The Vatican says staff will need to provide a medical reason for not having the jab or face the consequences.
Portugal has temporarily slowed down the vaccination of key workers such as police, armed forces and firefighters because of a shortage of doses.
Henrique Gouveia e Melo, head of Portugal's vaccination taskforce said the focus must be on "saving lives".
He said 90% of available doses will now be given to just two groups: people aged 80 and over, and people aged between 50 and 79 who have heart, coronary, kidney and severe respiratory diseases.
Only the remaining 10% will be given to the groups of specified key workers.
Russia has offered the African Union (AU) 300 million doses of its Covid vaccine, Sputnik V, reports Reuters news agency.
The entire adult population of about 30,000 people in the city of Serrana, Brazil, will be vaccinated against Covid-19 over the next two months, to test whether it lowers the infection rate - as part of an ongoing medical trial.
Eswatini has extended a partial lockdown imposed to prevent the spread of coronavirus for another two weeks.
|