The regional government of the Spanish capital Madrid ordered a lockdown from Monday in some of the poorer areas of the city and its outskirts that are home to about 850,000 people, after a surge in coronavirus infections there.

The Greek government is preparing to restrict public gatherings and suspend cultural events for two weeks to limit the spread of the coronavirus in the regional unit of Attica, where most new infections are recorded, PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Friday, cited by Ekathimerini.

Leading scientists in the prestigious Karolinska Institute in Stockholm are working on a pioneering treatment involving llamas and alpacas in the fight against Covid-19, news wires reported. After immunizing Tyson, a 12 year-old alpaca in Germany, with virus proteins, the team at the institute have isolated tiny antibodies, known as nanobodies, from his blood that bind to the same part of the virus as human antibodies and could block the infection.

Large parts of Europe on Friday geared up for broad new restrictions to stop the coronavirus as numbers across the continent are steadily on rise, news wires reported. Last week Europe recorded 54,000 infections in a single day, which was a new record.

The WHO’s European director Dr. Hans Kluge warned national governments on Thursday against reducing the quarantine period for people potentially exposed to the coronavirus, even as he acknowledged that COVID-19 “fatigue” was setting in with growing public resistance to the restrictions, news wires reported.

The coronavirus pandemic and related lockdown measures have pushed 150 million more children into poverty, news wires reported, citing an analysis published by UNICEF and Save the Children on Thursday.

The Spanish capital will introduce selective lockdowns in urban areas where the coronavirus is spreading faster, regional health authorities announced Wednesday.

Poland on Wednesday included France in the list of countries with a ban of  passenger flights due to coronavirus rise. At the same time flights to Romania, Albania, Malta and Kosovo will now be allowed, Polish Radio reported.

The effects of the coronavirus pandemic have halted and reversed global health progress, setting it back 25 years and exposing millions to the risk of deadly disease and poverty, a report by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation warned on Tuesday. It shows that, by nearly every indicator, the world has regressed in attempts to meet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals to end poverty and reduce inequality.

Coronavirus vaccines being developed in China may be ready for use by the general public as early as November, an official with the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said. China has four Covid-19 vaccines in the final stage of clinical trials. At least three of those have already been offered to essential workers under an emergency use programme launched in July.