BEST STORIES

· Germany to offer vaccines to children 12 and older after completing a medical consultation. Health Minister Jens Spahn said the country had “enough vaccines for all age groups”. The European Medicines Agency has authorized the Pfizer and Moderna jabs for ages 12 to 15.

· Russia has reported 22,010 new cases of COVID-19 and 788 deaths in the past 24 hours. It’s a little down from the day before, but it’s still significant.

· The number of foreign tourists to Spain jumped to 2.2 million in June, nearly 10 times higher than the number of arrivals a year ago amid tight travel restrictions. Tourists spent $ 2.87 billion during the month. Despite the improvement, this is still 75% less than in June 2019, when 8.8 million people visited Spain.

· French pharmaceutical company Sanofi plans to buy US company Translate Bio for $ 3.2 billion in an effort to catch up with other producers of COVID-19 vaccines. The French firm has fallen behind AstraZeneca and Pfizer, both of which have used mRNA technology, which Translate Bio is developing, but Sanofi was unable to do so.

French overseas department Guadeloupe will enter a three-week lockdown, after another French Caribbean territory, Martinique, was locked down last week. Reunion Island has also imposed restrictions, while 30 departments in the metropolis have reintroduced outdoor mask mandates.

· the Italy’s Olympic Committee thanked decision to exempt Olympic athletes from strict COVID-19 restrictions for the country’s impressive medal harvest in Tokyo. With five days of competition, Italy has already won more than in the two previous Games.

The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned against travel to Greece, Ireland and other global destinations due to an increasing number of COVID-19 cases.

The British government has launched a study on the best gap between vaccine doses for pregnant women. Some 52,000 pregnant women in England have been vaccinated, with no reported cause for concern, according to the Department of Health and Social Affairs.

AROUND EUROPE

Nicole Johnston London

The UK government has canceled plans to create an “amber watch list” of countries at risk of being “red” listed in the country’s traffic light system. The travel industry feared that destinations such as Spain and Greece would be added to the list and that millions of summer vacation plans could be plunged into chaos. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said he wants a “simple and balanced approach”.

Johnson also said the UK needs to be protected against the introduction of new variants. The next travel checklist review is this week. Meanwhile, clinical trials are about to begin to determine the best vaccination schedule to protect pregnant women from COVID-19.

Toni Waterman in Brussels

Belgium is expected to receive its first allocation of money from the EU’s COVID-19 recovery fund today. This will be the part of the pre-financing, equivalent to 13% of the total amount to be received. For Belgium, this represents a little over 900 million dollars. Luxembourg and Portugal are also expected to receive their first payments.

The money comes as the Delta variant hits the block, threatening to derail an economic recovery. New infections have averaged 1,557 per day in Belgium, while hospital admissions rose by a third last week.

Penelope Liersch in Budapest

Several Slovak hospitals will start vaccinating people today without prior registration. This is because a leading epidemiologist recommended that locals need a third booster dose, but said it was too early to start giving them because vaccine protection lasts between nine. and 12 months.

A vaccine lottery at Slovakia also started as an incentive to encourage people to have the jab.

People can now enter the lottery and win cash prizes between $ 1,200 and $ 120,000 to get vaccinated. As of Monday afternoon, at least 160,000 people had registered online to participate in the draw.

Ross Cullen in Paris

Guadeloupe has reimposed a three-week lockdown. The French Caribbean territory follows another French island in the region, Martinique, in reintroducing strict controls due to the new wave of coronavirus cases.

More than 680 people have been admitted for COVID-19 hospital treatment across France in the past 24 hours, the highest figure since mid-May. President Emmanuel Macron has turned to social networks to try to convince young people to be vaccinated.

He posted video responses to Instagram to address fake news and fake stories about vaccines. Macron says that 85% of people currently treated in intensive care in France are not vaccinated.

OF OUR GLOBAL COLLEAGUES

CGTN Europe: How the vaccination rate in Spain exceeded that in the United States

CGTN China: Nanjing’s COVID-19 outbreak linked to the Delta variant

CGTN America: Colombia begins lifting COVID-19 restrictions

CGTN Africa: World Bank to Fund COVID-19 Vaccine Deployment in Ghana

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CGTN Europe has provided in-depth coverage of the history of the novel coronavirus as it unfolds.