Poland opens EU borders, UK 'social bubbles': COVID-19 daily bulletin

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TOP HEADLINES

  • Saturday marks the first day of the new 'social bubble' initiative in England . People who live alone, or single parents, will be able to go visit another household, with no social distancing regulations required.

  • France is to lift its borderrestrictionsfor all Europeantravellerson 15 June , according to its Interiorand Foreign ministries. The restriction lift applies to all borders including air, land or sea.

  • Russia's daily cases rose by 8,706 in the past 24 hours bringing the total number of infection to 520,129. Deaths also rose by 114 to 6,829 .

  • London's Metropolitan Policecommander, Bas Javid urged Black Lives Matter demonstratorsto reconsider protests in central London.

  • European Union leaders are to join Italy's prime minister Giuseppe Conte for talks on how to restart the country's economy.

  • Slovenia will open its borders forcitizensof Montenegro and Italy on 15 June . It also announced an obligatory 14-dayquarantinefor people entering thecountry from 31 nations including the UK, U.S. and Russia.

  • Germany's daily deaths rose by** 18 in the past day to 8,781. Cases also rose by 348 to 186,022.**

  • Poland has lifted its border controls with Lithuania and other EU member states . As of midnight on the 13 June, Polish citizens can now travel freely to and from Germany, Lithuania, Slovakia and Czechia without being subjected to mandatory quarantine.

Black Lives Matter protests are set to continue across Europe this weekend. /AFP

If you were planning to come to London, I again would urge you to reconsider, but if you are still intent, please familiarise yourself with what the conditions are.

  • Bas Javid, commander, London's Metropolitan Police talking to Black Lives Matter protestors

ACROSS EUROPE

Aden-Jay Wood in London

Saturday marks the first day of England's 'social bubbling.' A concept introduced by the government to allow those living alone to enter another household without having to adhere to social distancing rules.

Each person is only allowed one other household to bubble with, and if any of the bubble begins to show symptoms of COVID-19, everyone in that group should self-isolate.

Meanwhile, Black Lives Matter protests continue across the UK on Saturday, despite government advice to stay at home. Police in London have told anyone who is deciding to protest should be off the streets by 16:00 GMT to try to avoid any disorder.

Last weekend saw several statues across the UK vandalised, including former prime minister Winston Churchill's in London. Churchill, alongside Nelson Mandela and a number of other statues have been boarded up as a precaution.

Poland

Poland has decided to put anend to border checks at its internal borders in theEuropean Union.

As of midnight last night, citizens of EUcountries will be able to travel freelyinto Poland without the need for mandatory quarantine.

"Travelers will regain the right to free entry, exit and transit through the territory of the Republic of Poland. They will not have to quarantine. Countries neighbouring Poland have already been informed about the Polish movement. Thanks to this, they have time to prepare for changes," the government's official statement.

The border openings only apply forcountries within the EU and not for thoseelsewhere as of yet.

00:12

Stefan De Vries in Paris

Paris will see another demonstration against Police violence and racism on Saturday. The protesters will march to remember Adama Traoré, a black man who died when the police tried to arrest him, in July 2016.

As part of the measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus, demonstrations in France are still illegal. During a protest last week however, the police did not intervene and there were no incidents.

Today, the organisers are asking the participants to wear protective face masks and respect social distancing (one meter in France).

The Frenchgovernment has also announced travel to the country from other Europeancountries is set to reopen on 15 June.

This means France has become one of the first countries in the world to allow UKcitizens back into their country despite stillhaving over 100 deaths per day.

02:09

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