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TOP HEADLINES
**• **The catastrophic scale of the COVID-19 pandemic could have been prevented had the warning signs been heeded, the World Health Organization panel investigating the world's coronavirus response concluded on Wednesday.
**• **France's parliament backed President Emmanuel Macron's plan to introduce a COVID-19 "health pass." Deputies had previously pushed back against the move arguing it was discriminatory for those not yet vaccinated.
**• **Ukraine's Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said 1 million people lost their jobs due to the economic downturn caused by the pandemic over the past year.
**• **COVID-19-neutralizing antibodies persist in patients for at least eight months after a diagnosis and can play a crucial role in fighting the infection, according to an Italian study.
**• **The UK's economy began to recover strongly at the end of the first quarter despite lockdown restrictions, according to official data revealed on Wednesday.
• People in Scotland will be able to hug and meet in each other's homes from Monday next week, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced.
**• **The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said it would simplify some of its review procedures to focus on COVID-19 treatments and vaccines. It faces a pandemic-driven surge in new drug applications.
**• **The number of patients in French hospitals with COVID-19 fell on Tuesday and the number of new infections increased at the slowest pace since June 2020 , health ministry data showed.
**• **Intensive care medical staff exhausted by the battle against the virus went on strike in some French hospitals on Tuesday to demand better pay and working conditions . The CGT trade union said the pandemic had underlined the need to increase the number of nurses and intensive care beds in public hospitals and improve salary terms.
**• **The impact of the pandemic became increasingly noticeable at food banks across Germany as many locations saw customer numbers rise by up to 20 percent, non-profit organization the Tafel announced.
**• **India on Wednesday said a record number of people were killed by the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, pushing its overall official death toll over 250,000.
**• **Travel group TUI expects a strong 2021 holiday season and is **sticking to its plan to operate 75 percent of pre-pandemic capacity. **The world's biggest holiday group said that increasing COVID-19 vaccinations means Europe will reopen for travel. However, ongoing restrictions and uncertainty have so far held back an expected surge in demand after winter lockdowns.
A man waits for a vaccination in Spain. /AP/Alvaro Barrientos
AROUND EUROPE
Penelope Liersch in Budapest
Hungary's daily infections and fatalities continue to decrease, with first-dose vaccinations administered now standing at 4.39 million. That's below the government's projected outcome, with Prime Minister Viktor Orban initially saying 5 million vaccinations would be reached by May 10.
Once the next vaccine milestone is reached, weddings and family reunions will be allowed to take place. From Thursday, 16 to 18-year-olds will start receiving the Pfizer jab. An estimated 90,000 teenagers have registered.
Implementing an EU immunity certificate program (commonly labeled as a vaccine passport) will likely be complicated as member states make bilateral or multilateral agreements on travel.
From Saturday, people who have received both doses of the vaccine in Czechia will be able to travel to Germany, Austria, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia without having to quarantine. These agreements will particularly help Hungary and some neighboring countries that have implemented vaccines not licensed by the EMA.
Toni Waterman in Brussels
Belgium's COVID-19 restrictions will start to be broadly rolled back in June as vaccination gathers pace. The Consultative Committee said from June 9, indoor dining at restaurants and hotels could reopen, along with fairgrounds, fitness centers, cinemas, theaters and bowling alleys. Returning to the office will also be allowed but on a staggered basis.
In July, outdoor events will expand to 2,500 attendees and indoors, 2,000 people will be allowed to attend. The easing will continue through September, with things returning to normal by October as long as vaccinations are high and infections are low.
French nurses demanding better conditions and pay, strike after a working through the pandemic. /AP/Daniel Cole
Andrew Wilson in Oxford
UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, will today come under increased pressure to set out details of the planned inquiry into his handling of the coronavirus. He will deliver an update on the pandemic in the House of Commons this afternoon, where he will face questions about the planned scope of the investigation.
The pandemic has fueled a boost in National Health Service (NHS) recruitment. The number of nurses, midwives and health visitors joining the NHS is up by more than 11,000, health chiefs have said.
Scientists are predicting the vaccine program will take care of the rest of the recovery after lockdown. The available data suggest that considerable protection lies in the first dose, with the second acting to boost immunity and provide long-lasting protection.
Among those at most risk (the over-50s and younger adults with health conditions, the demographics in which 99 percent of COVID-19 deaths have occurred) uptake for the first dose has been 95 percent.
The latest government data , based on evidence from the roll-out, suggest one dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine cuts the risk of infection by as much as 70 percent and death by even more.
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Source(s): Reuters ,Xinhua News Agency ,AFP