TOP HEADLINES

- Almost 300 people have tested positive for the coronavirus at a factory in Northampton, England, which makes sandwiches for supermarket chain Marks & Spencer. 

- A surge in cases in Spain has prompted authorities in the northwestern Galicia region and the Canary Islands to ban smoking in public places where social distancing is not possible. Experts say smoking increases the risk of transmission as masks are not worn across the face and smokers project droplets when they exhale. The smoking ban will come into effect on Friday as well as the mandatory wearing of face masks in all public spaces, said Canaries regional leader Angel Victor Torres.

- German Health Minister Jens Spahn told ZDF television he expects that a COVID-19 vaccine could be ready in the coming months and definitely next year.

- Students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are getting their exam results today. They include A-levels, AS-levels and technical qualifications, such as BTECs and Cambridge Technicals. Overall A-level results are showing higher A* and A grades but the system used to allocated grades has been widely criticised. 

- A nurse in France was assaulted on a bus after she asked a group of teenagers to wear masks in Paris, say police. Two people have been arrested. 

- The environment agency in Germany has called for classrooms to be ventilated for 45 minutes after every lesson. The guidelines say that offices and homes should also be ventilated with wide-open windows after every cough or sneeze. 

- Ukraine has recorded a daily jump of 1,592 cases. Infections have increased rapidly in recent months as lockdown measures have been eased. 

- German industrial conglomerate Thyssenkrupp said its losses widened in the third quarter as a result of plant closures related to the coronavirus pandemic. The steel-to-submarines group booked a net loss of $800 million in the three months to June. 

- Antonio Guterres, the secretary-general of the United Nations, warned that the COVID-19 pandemic not only threatens gains in fighting global poverty and building peace but also risks exacerbating existing conflicts and "fomenting new ones." 

- The French unemployment rate has hit a 37-year low as a multi-year downtrend was worsened by the coronavirus lockdown, which made it difficult to look for work, according to data from statistics agency INSEE.

- Nearly six percent of people in England may have been infected with COVID-19 during the peak of the pandemic, said researchers studying the prevalence of infections, saying that millions more people have tested positive for the disease. 

- Russian President Vladimir Putin says the country has developed the first vaccine offering "sustainable immunity" against the coronavirus. 

- Greece has reported its first case of COVID-19 in one island asylum-seeker camps, say officials. 

- The Portuguese capital Lisbon and the surrounding area will remain under tighter coronavirus prevention measures than the rest of the country until at least the end of August, says the government.

- Finland Prime Minister Sanna Marin says the government backs public health authorities' new recommendation to wear face masks on public transport and in other situations where social distancing is not a possibility. 

- Worldwide coronavirus cases have surpassed 20.4 million, according to the Johns Hopkins University. More than 12.7 million people have recovered from the virus and 745,000 have died. 

ACROSS EUROPE

Andrew Wilson in London

Some 250,000 school pupils will receive computer-regulated grades today after schools were locked down for the final term of the year. The algorithm will tweak grades recommended by teachers, but the government says appeals will be possible as will resits later in the year or next year.

Some schools and media are already branding the process as a disaster for this year's cohort of students.

The government will relaunch trials for its coronavirus tracking app in two locations today, based on the Apple/Google model.

The UK death toll from COVID-19 has been revised downwards after recalibrating the counting method. Now only those patients who die within 28 days of a positive test will be included:

Stefan de Vries in Amsterdam

The Dutch government came under fierce attack in the Lower House for its handling of the coronavirus pandemic. 

MPs criticized the Government's mixed messages that led to confusion among citizens about what measures they should take in the face of the crisis. A majority of the parties, including a governing coalition partner, lashed out at the proposed mandatory 14-day quarantine rule for anyone who has been in close contact with other infected patients. The new measure was announced by Health Minister Hugo de Jonge, but there are questions about the legal and practical feasibility.

At Eindhoven Airport, four border police officers tested positive. Their two dozen colleagues have gone into quarantine. It is not clear whether they have been in contact with passengers.

Despite the coronavirus crisis, the number of companies filing for bankruptcy has been going down for three consecutive months and is now at the lowest level since April 2000.

Over the past 24 hours, there were 654 new infections with COVID-19, most of them concentrated in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, the three major cities.

Isobel Ewing in Frankfurt

The first closure of a high school in Berlin has happened after a teacher tested positive for the coronavirus.

At least five other Berlin schools are also reporting cases, a few days after schools reopened.

Classes at a grammar school in the Treptow-Köpenick district were canceled on Thursday, according to a district spokeswoman.

The Senate Department for Education said: "It is a precautionary, probably one-day closure of this one school."

Although the teacher in question only had contact with a few students and teachers and is said to have adhered to the applicable hygiene regulations, the protection of everyone is the highest priority, the school management told German broadcaster RBB.

Berlin's school closure comes as students in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia return to school, with masks compulsory in lessons, the schoolyard and in hallways.

Toni Waterman in Brussels 

Hookah bars have been forced to close in the Anderlecht neighborhood in Brussels. The municipality is the hardest-hit by new coronavirus cases in the capital region, with 89 new infections per 100,000 residents in the past week, far above the "alarm" threshold of 50. 

In an interview with Bruzz, Anderlecht's mayor said other measures are off the table for now, but that officials were "paying particular attention to the terraces of bars and restaurants."

Meanwhile, fresh data show the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic cost Belgium's healthcare sector $600 million. According to figures from the National Institute for Sickness and Disability Insurance, buying protective gear for medical professionals took up the largest share of expenses, closely followed by hospital treatment.

FROM OUR GLOBAL COLLEAGUES
 

CGTN Europe podcast: Notes on a pandemic: Science rules

CGTN China: Chinese mainland reports 19 new COVID-19 cases

CGTN America: Engineers build Peru's first domestically-made ventilator

CGTN Africa: Namibia suspends domestic flights due to surge in COVID-19 cases

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CGTN Europe has been providing in-depth coverage of the novel coronavirus story as it has unfolded. Here you can read the essential information about the crisis.