Egypt is prioritising the vaccination of tourism workers to support the sector's recovery and is on track to announce full inoculation of two resort areas this month, its tourism minister told AFP.

Brazilian states halted vaccination of pregnant women on Tuesday after a death in Rio de Janeiro led health regulator Anvisa to warn against the use of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine for expecting mothers, Reuters reports.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the nation's 16 state premiers agreed on Monday to end the prioritization of particular age groups within the nation’s vaccination campaign in June, dpa reported.  "This does not mean that everyone can then be vaccinated immediately,” Merkel told a press conference after the meeting, dubbed a vaccination summit.

At least 12 EU countries are confident they will be able to vaccinate 70% of their population by mid-July, news wires reported citing Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton. The Commission has set such a target - but this is reliant on a large increase in jab supplies.

New rules and better supply of new vaccine doses will boost Italy’s vaccination campaign, allowing the government to lift restrictions on businesses and citizens starting from May, the health minister said in an interview published on Monday.

Germany will have immunised 20% of its population against the novel coronavirus by the beginning of May, the country’s health minister Jens Spahn said on Monday.

German Health Minister Jens Spahn called for greater freedoms for people who have been vaccinated against Covid-19 after the third wave of coronavirus infections has passed, dpa reported.

Over 31 million people in UK had received their first shot of a COVID-19 vaccine, with five million now having had both doses in what is the fastest rollout in Europe, official data showed. Britain reported 10 deaths from COVID-19 within 28 days of a positive test on Saturday, the lowest daily figure since early September, as its vaccine rollout reached another milestone, Reuters reported.

The EU has fallen short of vaccinating 80% of health care workers and people over the age of 80 against Covid-19 by the end of March, thus not fulfilling the target set by the Commission, dpa reported.

The number of new coronavirus cases in France neared 30,000 on Saturday while the number of people to receive their first vaccine injection topped 5 million, health ministry data showed.