Portugal, COVID and The Rest of Europe
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| Lisbon, Portugal |
A Swedish nurse has won a competition to watch the entire 60-movie programme of the Goteborg Film Festival from a lighthouse on an isolated island off the coast of Sweden.
Lisa Enroth said she hoped to enjoy "being part of a totally different kind of reality for a week".
She beat 12,000 film fans who applied for the experience after the festival was curtailed by the pandemic.
Two million people in the Australian city of Perth must stay home except for essential reasons as part of a snap five-day lockdown after a security guard working at a quarantine hotel tested positive for coronavirus. Here are some of the best pictures as the city shut up shop.
With lots of discussion about the UK’s Covid-19 vaccine roll-out, there's understandably lots of uncertainty around it, too.
You might have friends or family who can’t wait to have a vaccine, or some who are a bit unsure.
From infertility to travel, Newsbeat reporters Kirsty Grant and Levi Jouavel have been looking at some of the big topics that you’ve been asking about:
Portugal's Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva has defended European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and called for unity, after a week that saw tensions over the EU’s handling of its vaccine shortage crisis.
"There is no reason for the leaders of Europe to argue. It is very important that we keep united," he told the BBC.
"As holders of the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, Portugal fully supports Ursula von der Leyen - she’s doing a great effort to address the shortfalls of production of vaccines by first Pfizer and now AstraZeneca.
"Let’s work together because it’s very important that the vaccination of all people in Europe can happen this year.
"We want the contracts signed by AstraZeneca and the European Union to be respected. It has very specific targets concerning distribution of vaccines and we expect that AstraZeneca will overcome this current shortfall in some of its plants and respect that.
"It is not an issue of restriction; it is an issue of transparency. We don’t think that there is a clause in the contract that says that the vaccines used by the European Union must be produced in the European Union. AstraZeneca has to mobilise all of its plants in order to fulfil the contractual obligations."
The bloc agreed to buy up to 400 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine last year, but last week, AstraZeneca said vaccine supplies would be reduced because of problems in one of its EU factories - leading to the EU announcing it would impose vaccine export controls.
A 28-year-old woman who posted social media videos from intensive care to warn others about the dangers of Covid has died with the virus.
Kyanna Sutton, who had severe asthma, died at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital earlier this month.
Before her death, the keen singer had warned others in Facebook posts from her hospital bed: "Please be careful."
Her mother Kirstie described her daughter as a "fighter".
Buildings in Leeds city centre have been lit up to remember those who have lost their lives during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The council says it is marking a year since the first coronavirus cases were detected in the UK.
Buildings are illuminated in blue, in tribute to NHS staff, and yellow to symbolise grief awareness.
More than 100,000 people in the UK have died with the virus, more than 1,300 of those in Leeds, the authority says.
The city's civic hall, town hall, museum, arena and a University of Leeds building are included in the two-day tribute and you can see our picture gallery here. The emirate of Dubai has announced plans to help the UN distribute two billion coronavirus vaccines to some of the world’s poorest countries in the year ahead.
The city will combine its extensive network of air and sea transport resources as it acts as a global supply hub.
Emirates Skycargo, Dubai Airports and ports operator DP World will form a logistics alliance "to expedite the worldwide transport of urgently needed vaccines through Dubai".
Dubai already has one of the world's largest centres specialising in aid distribution logistics.
Now it plans to combine all its cargo-handling facilities and expertise, and put them to work in the vast effort to vaccinate the world against the coronavirus, says the BBC's Alan Johnston.
Last week, a Dubai-based organisation involved in international port management agreed to help the UN ship vaccines to low and middle-income countries. The firm will do this at no cost.
Police stopped an illegal rave from going ahead after hundreds bought tickets despite it being in breach of Covid rules.
Northumbria Police said the rave was due to be held at a disused building on Saturday evening near to the County Durham border at Consett.
Organisers had arrived to set up before officers intervened and made a number of arrests and seized equipment.
Police called it "irresponsible and completely unacceptable".
Those who planned to attend were warned they faced being reported for Covid breaches if they visited the area.
Under coronavirus rules, police have the power to shut down large parties - with fines of up to £10,000.
The director of the Oxford Vaccine Group has said the world should work together on Covid vaccinations and warned against complacency over the new variants.
"There is a moral case for trying to make sure people are protected everywhere," Professor Andrew Pollard told Radio 4’s Broadcasting House programme.
"But also a selfish reason – our health security absolutely depends on preventing disease in those in other countries who we might be interacting with and might bring new variants here as well."
He says the UK has over-ordered vaccines but whether it sends any to the EU is "a decision for politicians to make later on".
Prof Pollard warns "we absolutely cannot be complacent" over new variants.
"While we allow it to continue to transmit in many parts of the world, that's exactly the circumstance...that new variants will arrive," he says.
He says data in the "very near future" will show current vaccines as effective against the Kent variant.
But the South African and Brazilian strains are "much more concerning", he says.
Scientists will adapt vaccines to tackle those variants during the course of this year, he says.
It's been a busy morning of coronavirus developments here in the UK. If you're just joining us, here's a summary of the main stories across the globe:
- Ending the current coronavirus lockdown must happen "very slowly, very cautiously", Public Health England's Covid strategy chief says
- Dr Susan Hopkins also says the UK should start seeing the impact of the vaccination programme in two weeks
- The situation in hospitals has "stabilised" and staff are no longer having to plan for extra capacity, an intensive care doctor says
- UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock predicts "a happy and free great British summer" - but warns of "a tough few months" before then. National restrictions remain in place as the vaccination programme continues
- The Irish PM says there are "lessons to be learnt" after the EU reversed its threat to put checks on the Irish border, as part of efforts to tackle vaccine shortages in the bloc
- Fresh Covid-19 restrictions have kicked in in France, but the country has once again resisted a new nationwide lockdown
- The Australian city of Perth is entering a snap five-day lockdown after a security guard working at a quarantine hotel tested positive for the virus. It's the first case for 10 months of locally acquired Covid anywhere in Western Australia
- Investigators from the World Health Organization have visited the Chinese market in Wuhan where the first coronavirus cases were detected, in a bid to learn more about the origins of the virus
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