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Researchers in the UK who collected blood samples from more than 20,000 residents last year have revealed that 99 percent of those who tested positive for the virus had antibodies for at least three months, and 88 percent of people with positive tests had antibodies for at least six months.

-** France's President Emmanuel Macron has said that every adult in the country will be offered a vaccine "by the end of the summer," **while 80 percent of care home residents will be vaccinated by early March.

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced a phased return to school for children in nurseries and some primary school years that will allow them to return to the classroom from February 22.
The Netherlands' Prime Minister Mark Rutte said it is unlikely that any of the current lockdown measures will be lifted before March 2 , adding that "a third wave is inevitably coming our way."
Scientists have given their approval to Russia's Sputnik V vaccine after peer-reviewed late-stage trial results suggested it was almost 92 percent effective in fighting the virus.
British pharmaceutical firm GlaxoSmithKline and German biotech company CureVac have announced plans to jointly develop a vaccine they say has the potential to be effective against variants of the virus.
**UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock has urged those living in areas where door-to-door testing is taking place to not go to the shops **if they already have food in the house in order to "minimize all social contact."
Russia has reported a further 16,474 new cases in the past 24 hours , while fatalities also rose by 526, bringing the nationwide death toll to 74,684.
The head of the Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine trials, Andrew Pollard, has said the jab gives good immune responses in older people , despite there being a lack of data about its exact efficacy. The response comes after France became the latest country to advise against the elderly getting the vaccine.
France's European affairs minister, Clement Beaune, has said the UK has taken "enormous risks" in its vaccines roll-out as he defended the speed of France's vaccination program.
An out-of-commission passenger ship that normally carries tourists and commuters between Germany and Switzerland, has been turned into a vaccination center for thousands of local residents near Lake Constance, Switzerland as the country seeks to scale up its inoculation program.

The current nationwide lockdown measures in the Netherlands are likely to remain in place until at least March 2, Prime Minister Mark Rutte has said. /AP

ACROSS EUROPE

Toni Waterman in Brussels

Belgium

Belgium has joined a growing list of European countries that say they will not use the AstraZeneca vaccine in older people, due to insufficient data on how well the shot will work for them. The federal health minister said the recommendation could change as more information is provided by the company. Belgium is set to receive its first shipment of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines next week.

Belgium's nine health ministers will meet on Wednesday to discuss the current state of play before meeting with the vaccination task force in the evening. New infections continue to rise, with an average of2,348 new cases a day in the past week, up 9 percent from the week before.

The EU

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen meets with EU ambassadors on Wednesday to discuss the bloc's vaccine strategy. The meeting could give a glimpse into just how upset capitals are following last week's bungled handling of vaccine export controls.

In a meeting with European lawmakers Tuesday night, Von der Leyen reportedly took responsibility for all the Commission's decisions, including triggering Article 16 of the Brexit Agreement which could have led to checks along the Irish border. Brussels was forced to drop that idea hours later.

Von der Leyen also reportedly told lawmakers that the Commission was trying to help ramp up vaccine production in Europe, but warned members of the European parliament to be prepared for variants that do not respond to existing jabs.

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Ross Cullen in Paris

France's president has promised a COVID-19 vaccine "for all French adults who want one by the end of the summer."

Speaking to French media, Emmanuel Macron said: "Our objective is to keep the country as open as possible despite the virus."

He said France will be producing more doses domestically from March and confirmed he has no problems ordering Russia's Sputnik V vaccine if it is approved by European regulators.

France's health defence council will meet on Wednesday morning. The president, prime minister and senior ministers will discuss the latest situation on vaccinations and the spread of new COVID-19 variants in France. The number of new daily infections remains stable but high, rarely dropping below 21,000 a day but also not going above 28,000.

Mia Alberti in Budapest

The first 40,000 doses of the Sputnik V vaccine have arrived in Hungary. They are the first batch of a total of 2 million vials that are expected to arrive in the coming months.

Hungary has veered away from Brussels' plan in order to speed up its own vaccination program, becoming the first EU country to buy vaccines from Russia and China.

Health authorities are still doing some safety checks on the vaccine but the government says it wants to start administering it as soon as possible.

The approval of the Russian and Chinese vaccines in Hungary has been controversial, with the Chamber of Doctors recently saying there was lack of documentation for the jabs.

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