Italy’s Health Minister Roberto Speranza said Friday he had signed a new ordinance introducing a five-day quarantine with an obligation to have a Covid-19 test for all those arriving in Italy from the United Kingdom, effective from Monday.The move comes amid a resurgence in infection figures in the UK due to the Delta (India) variant, ANSA reported.

Germany has now given at least one coronavirus vaccine shot to more than half its population but officials urged people on Friday to remain cautious and slow the spread of the more contagious delta variant, news wires reported. After a slow start, vaccinations have accelerated in Germany and everyone 12 and over has been eligible to get a shot since last week. The country is administering more than 800,000 shots per day, AP noted.

Germany's Stasi Records Archive, which holds the files kept by the feared secret police of former Communist East Germany, closed on Thursday after nearly three decades of archival work, dpa reported. The millions of Stasi files, as well as thousands of photos and sound recordings made by East Germany's state security and intelligence services, will now come under the authority of Germany's Federal Archives in the western city of Koblenz.

Italian Premier Mario Draghi on Thursday signed a decree introducing the Covid Green Pass proving coronavirus vaccination, which will be valid across the EU from 1 July, ANSA reported. The pass will permit travel across the EU for those who have been fully vaccinated, and allow access to all health systems.

The European Commission on Thursday adopted a positive assessment of Greece's recovery and resilience plan. This is an important step towards disbursing €17.8bn in grants and €12.7bn in loans under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) over the period 2021-2026, EC Press service reported. This financing will support the implementation of the crucial investment and reform measures outlined in Greece's recovery and resilience plan. It will play a key role in enabling Greece emerge stronger from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) announced on Wednesday that more than two million families in Italy were living in conditions of absolute poverty in 2020, 7.7% of the total, up from 6.4% in 2019, ANSA reported. In terms of individuals, over 5.6 million people were in absolute poverty in Italy last year, 9.4% of the population, up from 7.7% the previous year, according to the Italian statistics agency.

Greek labour law is set to be updated with flexible work times and paternity leave after the country's parliament passed legislation late on Wednesday, parliamentary broadcaster VOULI-TV reported. PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis had the votes in the legislature to push the measure through by virtue of his party having 158 of the house's 300 seats.

France is lifting mandatory mask-wearing outdoors on Thursday and will halt an eight-month nightly coronavirus curfew on 20 June,  news wires reported. Masks will still be required outdoors on public transport, in stadiums and other crowded places, PM Jean Castex said.

German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz confirmed information that his administration had taken steps to pursue persons and companies that evade taxes and hide assets in Dubai, AP reported. The German authorities have paid an undisclosed amount of money to obtain CDs containing data about assets, bank accounts and real estate property. The operation follows similar purchases by regional authorities of data from Switzerland in the past decade.

Portugal on Wednesday became the first EU country to have its recovery plan rubber-stamped by the European Commission, whose president Ursula von der Leyen said an initial disbursement from the bloc’s COVID-19 recovery fund should come in July.