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The first cases of the variant identified in India have been detected in Belgium, in a group of 20 Indian nursing students who arrived from Paris in mid-April, the office of government commissioner Pedro Facon has said.
Ukraine has passed 2 million infections since the start of the pandemic , Health Minister Maksym Stepanov has said on his Facebook page.
France will lift its domestic travel restrictions on May 3 , while secondary schools will also reopen following a slowdown of new infections, said the country's Prime Minister Jean Castex.
However, people arriving into France from Brazil, Chile, Argentina, South Africa and India will have to enter a 10-day quarantine period as it attempts to contain the virus.
Hungary will vaccinate at least 40 percent of its population with one dose of a jab by the middle of next week , Prime Minister Viktor Orban said. When the milestone is reached more lockdown restrictions will be eased, Orban added.
One in every four people in Germany will have received at least one dose of a jab by early May , Health Minister Jens Spahn has said.
Meanwhile, the head of Germany's vaccine regulator, Klaus Cichutek, has said the Johnson Johnson vaccine is safe and effective and its side effects are very rare.

-** The UK's drug regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, had said there were 168 reported cases of blood clots **in people who had AstraZeneca's Vaxzevria jab in the country up to April 14.

A UK study has found that one dose of either the AstraZeneca or Pfizer-BioNTech jab reduces infections by 65 percent. The research, which was carried out by Oxford University and the Office for National Statistics, analyzed test results from more than 350,000 people in the UK between December and April.
Japan is to declare states of emergency in Tokyo and three other regions on Friday , raising new concerns over the commencement of the Tokyo Olympic Games, which is due to begin exactly three months today.
The World Health Organization has said vaccines continue to remain out of reach to poorer countries , urging richer nations to continue to donate to the COVAX sharing fund. "Nearly 900 million vaccine doses have been administered globally, but over 81 percent have gone to high- or upper middle-income countries, while low-income countries have received just 0.3 percent," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said.

France will lift its domestic travel restrictions on May 3, Prime Minister Jean Castex has said. /AP

ACROSS EUROPE

Penelope Liersch in Budapest

Hungary has vaccinated 3.5 million people with at least one dose of vaccine, the figure needed to allow outdoor dining to reopen and around 35 percent of the population.

From Saturday, restaurants will be allowed to open terrace areas and the night-time curfew will be shortened, starting an hour later at 11 p.m.. The government made the announcement via a Facebook video on Friday morning. It's understood further announcements on restrictions easing will be made next week.

The Orban government has also referenced data on vaccine effectiveness, saying only 1 percent of people who have had a dose of vaccine have tested positive for the coronavirus. The figure is understood to be lower among those who have had a second dose.

Ryan Thompson in Frankfurt

German authorities have given more details about how they will roll out the Johnson Johnson vaccine now the European Medicines Agency has reaffirmed its use with a warning.

Unlike the AstraZeneca vaccine, which also presents a very rare risk of blood clots, all adults in Germany will be eligible for the single-shot vaccine.

Nearly 230,000 doses are being sent to vaccination centers across the country for immediate use. Clinics were forced to cancel thousands of appointments when the vaccine roll-out was delayed, but those are now being rescheduled.

The next weekly shipment will also include doctors' offices and GPs, which will start offering patients the jab by the beginning of May.

A UK study has found that one dose of either the AstraZeneca or Pfizer-BioNTech jab reduces infections by 65%. /AP

Rahul Pathak in Madrid

Spain has passed the 10 million mark for people who have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine.

On Thursday, nearly half a million jabs were administered across Spain as the country's vaccination program gathered pace.

The news comes as the first doses of the Johnson Johnson coronavirus vaccine arrived at health centers nationwide.

The shipment of 146,000 doses of the single-shot drug had been held in storage for the past week, while medicines regulators studied research into concerns over blood clots.

The health ministry said it expects to have around half the adult population inoculated before the end of July.

**Iolo ap Dafydd in London **

New travel restrictions are being enforced in the UK for British and Irish nationals arriving from India.

They and travelers with residency rights must quarantine in a government-approved hotel. With India joining the UK's "red list" from 4 a.m. Friday, travel is now effectively banned because of high infection rates and a rising death toll because of a deadly new virus variant.

According to Public Health England, another 55 cases of a variant first identified in India have been detected up to mid-April. Scientists can't say yet if people carrying this particular mutation can transmit the virus more easily, or if it counters vaccines.

A total of 40 countries are now on the British government's red list, from Asia, Africa, South America and the Middle East.

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