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TOP HEADLINES

• **Riot police in Brussels were forced to disperse crowds from a city park for a second evening in a row **on Friday. The police used water cannon to break up the smaller crowd, 24 hours after using the same tactics to charge a group of up to 2,000 people who gathered to attend a fake concert on Thursday.

• Russia has passed 100,000 COVID-19 deaths since the start of the pandemic after a further 384 fatalities were reported in the past 24 hours to bring the nationwide death toll to 100,107.

• Soldiers in Italy have unloaded boxes carrying more than 1.3 million doses of AstraZeneca's Vaxzevria vaccine at a military base near Rome. The country resumed the use of the shot last month following a short pause amid worries over blood clot reports.

• Slovenia and Austria have promised thousands of vaccine doses to Czechia, which is struggling with a surge in infections. "We are very grateful for this generous help, especially from friends who are also in need of more vaccines, but they understand how difficult is our situation," CzechiaPrime MinisterAndrejBabiš said.

• Russia has confirmed it is working on a program to offer people abroad the chance to come to the country to be vaccinated with its Sputnik V jab from July.

• The number of people in French intensive care units with COVID-19 rose by the greatest margin in five months on Friday as the country continues to battle against a third wave. The health ministry reported that 5,254 virus patients were in ICU, an increase of 145 from the previous day.

•** Ukraine has reported a record number of new cases since the start of the pandemic for a second day in a row **after 20,341 infections were recorded in the past 24 hours.

• **Seven deaths have been reported among people who have received the Vaxzevria jab in the UK, **the country's drug regulators have said. However the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency says the numbers remain low and the benefits of the vaccine far outweigh any risks.

• **Turkey has begun administering Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine doses, **the country's second vaccine after China's Sinovac jab.

• From Monday April 12, care home residents in England will be able to receive two visitors indoors as restrictions continue to be cautiously eased.

Russia has passed 100,000 COVID-19 deaths since the start of the pandemic after a further 384 fatalities were reported in the past 24 hours. /AP

ACROSS EUROPE

Andrew Wilson in the UK

The UK's drug regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, has said the risks associated with vaccination far outweigh those of blood clots. There have been 30 reports of cases in people who've been given the AstraZeneca vaccine, seven of those have died.

The country has so far administered 18.1 million jabs that's a rate of one case in every 600,000 injections.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned people against meeting indoors over Easter. Families can now meet outdoors in groups of six or as two households.

At least 122,000 National Health Service personnel are reported to be suffering from Long Covid-19, putting more pressure on the service.

The government has decided not to put European countries like France and Germany on a red travel list despite the third wave of infections.

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Rahul Pathak in Madrid

The Spanish government says it wants to speed up the pace of its vaccination program in April with the delivery of increasing numbers of doses.

Over a million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine have been delivered to the country's 17 autonomous regions. Health officials say a shipment of 1.2 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is due to arrive on Monday.

The shipments are arriving just as infection rates are starting to rise in Spain, leading to fears of a possible fourth wave of the pandemic.

Spain's 14-day cumulative cases per 100,000 people, is just over 150, above the level considered "high risk."

Belgium

For a second day running, riot police in Brussels were forced to disperse a crowd of people in one of the city's parks on Friday.

Just 24 hours after using water cannon to disperse a group of about 2,000 people who gathered to attend a party, which turned out to be an April Fool's Day prank, police had to use the high-power cannon again – albeit on a smaller collection.

Brussels' mayor Philippe Close said that while he could understand people wanting to go outside, "we can't tolerate such gatherings."

Close also thanked the police "for the difficult job, and for people who have respected the rules for more than a year" since the start of the pandemic.

WATCH BELOW: Police use water cannon to disperse partygoers in Brussels

02:22