Macron insists France doesn't need lockdown: COVID-19 daily bulletin

TOP HEADLINES

•The UK's International Trade Secretary Liz Truss says it's "too early" to be thinking about donating doses of vaccines to other poorer countries but says there is a desire to help third world countries with their vaccination programs.

• Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin says **"there are a lot of lessons to be learnt" **after the EU performed a U-turn on its decision to implement border checks for vaccine exports at the Irish border.

• Serbia has recorded the second fastest roll-out of vaccinations in Europe . The country says its rapid progress is down to securing doses of vaccines early on and the nation's relationships with China and Russia.

• Clare Wenham, a global health expert at the London School of Economics, says the pandemic won't be over for at least another "two or three years" – the time she says it will take for sufficient doses of vaccines to be distributed to every nation on earth.

•The European Medicines Agency says there is no link between the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and several deaths that have been reported in the aftermath of vaccinations in Norway and other European countries.

A couple wear masks in Serbia, where the vaccination roll-out is continuing at an impressive speed. /Darko Vojinovic/AP Photo

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ACROSS EUROPE

Germany

A COVID-19 expert from the World Health Organization says Germany needs to summon the spirit of Liverpool soccer manager Jurgen Klopp if they are to win their fight against the virus.

David Nabarro told the DPA news agency that the country's government need to show greater unity as they try to regain control of the pandemic.

"Klopp knows how to touch people and bring peopletogether," Nabarro said. "I'm sure he would have good ideas."

Nabarro says Germany has also been guilty of a lack of detail in its strategy against COVID-19, something he says has been an issue amongst many rich countries.

"Why haven't they maintained the thoroughness?" Nabarro asked. "It's almost as if rich countries thought they couldget through the pandemic without hard work."

Data comparing the mortality rates of COVID-19 in EU countries compared to flu has shown that coronavirus is significantly more lethal. /James Sandifer/CGTN

France

French PM Jean Castex has announced tough new COVID-19 border restrictions, but has again resisted imposing a new nationwide lockdown.

From Sunday all but essential travel from outside of the EU will be banned. Testing requirements from inside the EU will also be tightened.

The closure does not apply to hauliers traveling between the UK and France, UK transport minister Grant Shapps said.

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Source(s): Reuters