Europe 'once again' epicentre of Covid, WHO warns

Your headlines round-up from today by BBC

Thank you for joining us today. As our live coverage comes to an end, here are some of Thursday's key developments in the pandemic:

The WHO has warned Europe faces another 700,000 deaths by March, describing the continent as the epicentre of the current phase of the pandemic

However, the global health organisation also called on richer countries to donate doses of Covid jabs ahead of vaccinating children, who are less vulnerable to severe illness and death

Many European countries are considering or have already introduced new Covid restrictions, as cases in the continent continue to rise

In the last day, Poland has reported more than 28,000 cases, the Czech Republic more than 25,000, while Slovakia has the highest per-capita infection rise in the world

In this vein, the Netherlands is set to announce new curbs on Thursday, after daily cases there also reached record levels - with nearly 24,000 new cases reported

Back in the UK, there have been more than 43,000 new cases of coronavirus in the last day

A man has been jailed after sending a fake bomb to a Covid vaccine factory in Wales, which briefly resulted in the facility being closed.