TOP HEADLINES
- The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), a non-profit organization, has launched a global laboratory network to allow scientists and drug makers to compare and analyze potential vaccines and speed up the selection of the most effective ones. Initially there will six labs worldwide, with three of them (the UK, Italy and the Netherlands) in Europe.
- Spain's capital Madrid, as well as nine nearby towns, will enter a period of partial lockdown at 10 p.m. local time on Friday, regional health minister Enrique Ruiz Escudero confirmed.
- Denmark is to cull up to one million mink after finding more infections among farms that breed the animals for their fur.
- Face masks will be made mandatory in all outdoor spaces in the Italian capital Rome and the surrounding Lazio region, following a spike in new infections.
- The UK's reproduction, or R, rate has risen to between 1.3 and 1.6, despite the country's Office for National Statistics saying there was evidence the increase in new infections was slowing down.
- Slovakia's number of new infections rose by 797 in the past 24 hours, the highest daily tally recorded since the start of the pandemic. Prime Minister Igor Matovic described the situation as "extremely serious."
- Scotland's first minister, Nicola Sturgeon has called for the resignation Margaret Ferrier, an MP who took a train from London to Scotland after testing positive for the virus, calling her actions "utterly indefensible."
- Russia has posted 9,412 new cases in the past 24 hours, the country's highest daily total since 23 May, bringing the cumulative total to 1,194,643. Fatalities also rose, by 186 to 21,077.
- Swedish clothes retailer H&M has announced it will close 250 of its 5,000 stores worldwide due to the economic impact of the pandemic.
- A total of 15.7 million foreign tourists visited Spain between January and August, around 73 percent fewer than in the same period last year, according to the country's National Statistics Institute (INE).
- Norwegian oil and gas firm Equinor has confirmed plans to cut its exploration staff by up to 30 percent by 2023 due to the dive in demand for petroleum, partly attributable to fewer people traveling during the pandemic.
- France may be forced to put the country's capital Paris on "maximum virus alert" if cases continue to surge in the coming days, Health Minister Olivier Veran said. Restauranteurs and their staff in Paris banged pots and pans outside their restaurants on Friday in protest of the expected decision.
- The UK has added Turkey and Poland to its quarantine list from Saturday, meaning people returning from those countries will have to self-isolate for 14 days.