Reports suggest that more countries – including Italy, Germany and Austria – could be added to the "Green List" later this week, allowing unvaccinated Brits to holiday abroad without needing to quarantine when back home.
Many countries are stepping up their efforts to incentivise vaccination against Covid. Some are offering free pints and in Germany, the Government is considering giving those who are hesitant €300 if they get ‘jabbed’.
German researchers looked at changes in the R number over time, and found they had "no direct connection" with lockdown measures. Significantly, infections were already declining when lockdowns were imposed last March.
Germans will soon be able to reclaim some of their freedoms, but only if they agree to be vaccinated against Covid, in one of the largest steps forward for the idea of vaccine passports yet.
Germany's domestic spy agency is monitoring anti-lockdown activists for suspected sedition. Protesters are said to have an agenda that goes far beyond the Government's response to Covid.
The house and office of a Weimar judge who prohibited mask-wearing, distancing measures and rapid testing at schools have been searched by investigators, reportedly because his ruling is thought to have violated the law.
A Weimar court has prohibited two schools from imposing mask-wearing, "social distancing" and rapid testing of pupils, saying that these measures are not only unhelpful but are "extremely harmful to human coexistence".
Germany is suspending its rollout of the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine for people aged below 60 because of a risk of rare blood clots. This decision follows that of Canada to limit the rollout of the jab for those under 55.
Is the reason some EU countries are experiencing a rise in Covid infections, but not the UK, because regional epidemics follow the same pattern as seasonal flu epidemics, with some aggressive and others mild?
Germany and France are the latest countries to pause their rollouts of the AstraZeneca jab because of fears over blood clotting. Boris Johnson, Britain's medicines regulator and AZ itself have all defended the vaccine.
