Most Italians are able to return to local restaurants and cafes for outdoor lunch and dinner from today. Table service remains outdoors only; masks and social distancing also remain in force. Under the national colour-coded system for Covid risk, most of Italy is returning to the less restrictive yellow, from orange or red.
A night curfew remains in force from 22:00 local time. Shows are also finally resuming in theatres, cinemas and concert halls. But they can be no more than half-full and spectators have to sit 1m (3.3ft) apart. In Milan, film fans booked all available seats at the Beltrade cinema, where some even turned up at dawn for the first showing, Rai news reports.
In France, nursery and primary school pupils are going back to lessons after three weeks away, with secondary age students returning next week. Belgians now no longer have to make an appointment to visit non-essential shops, but cafes and restaurants don’t yet offer outdoor table service.
In north Germany, police in Friesland have questioned a nurse who admitted swapping saline for Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine when injecting six people last Wednesday. Police quote the woman as saying she did it after dropping a vial, and wanted to cover up her mistake. The Friesland authorities now want 200 people to come forward for antibody testing, as the six are thought to be among them.
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