Ursula von der Leyen

Nearly 500 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine could be made available to European Union member-states by the end of the first semester of 2021, according to the bloc's chief executive, Ursula von der Leyen.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on Tuesday the disbursement of 728 million euros from its SURE unemployment scheme to Greece.

"I am pleased to announce that Greece has received an additional 728 million euros in loans through SURE to fund part-time systems and support employees," she said in a tweet in Greek.

The European Commission will continue discussions with AstraZeneca with the purpose of receiving more doses of its Covid-19 vaccine than the company has so far pledged in the first quarter of the year, a spokesman said on Monday.

The European Commission gave approval on Friday for the use of the Covid-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca, the final step to allowing Europe to use it across the continent.

"I expect the company to deliver the 400 million doses as agreed," Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission wrote on Twitter.

[Reuters]

The European Commission has announced that it is launching a European biosecurity program to combat pandemics and other potential biological threats. This was stated by EC President Ursula von der Leyen.

She spoke online at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Europe's battle against coronavirus entered a dangerous new phase this week as politicians pushed to tighten lockdown measures across the continent even after a weekend of rioting brought scenes of chaos to the Netherlands and Denmark amid warnings of 'civil war'. 

The European Union is pressuring the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca to deliver more coronavirus vaccine doses to its 27 nations and to stick to its initial promises once the jab gets EU approval, especially since the bloc has already invested in enhancing production capacity.

The European Commission has proposed the inclusion of a new category in the map of Europe, which identifies the varying degrees of coronavirus spread. It will be colored in dark red, that is, it will indicate areas where the infection spreads especially quickly.

European Union leaders agreed that borders should remain open and assessed more measures to counter the spread of coronavirus variants during a video summit Thursday as the bloc's top disease control official said urgent action was needed to stave off a new wave of hospitalizations and deaths.

The European Commission proposed to EU leaders on Thursday identifying "dark red" coronavirus hot spots from which all but essential travel would be discouraged after a meeting to discuss the mounting challenge from more infectious virus variants.