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The Covid pandemic has affected life expectancy in Europe, according to latest data across the EU released by its statistics agency Eurostat.

It says, on average, life expectancy at birth has been rising by more than two years per decade since the 1960s. But while many countries have seen that rise slow down in recent years, the decline in 2020 in some EU member states from 2019 is quite marked:

• Belgium's life expectancy fell from 82.1 years to 80.9
• Bulgaria's fell from 75.1 to 73.6 years
• Spain, with life expectancy among Europe's highest, fell from 84 to 82.4 years
• Italy's was down from 83.6 to 82.4
• In Lithuania, Poland and Romania life expectancy from birth was down by 1.4 years
• The Netherlands, France and Austria saw a decline of 0.7 years

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Hungary is reopening shops and resuming services this morning as Covid restrictions are eased, even though the hospitals are full and some 250 people are dying every day. Hungary has a relatively high vaccination rate so Prime Minister Viktor Orban says he feels a “moral imperative” to open up.

Turkey has declared a record 49,584 new cases in the past 24 hours and another 211 deaths. It too is moving ahead fast with its vaccination campaign with more than 10 million people receiving a first dose.

The EU’s medicines agency EMA is expected to update its advice later today on the safety of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine after reports of rare blood clots. The agency has consistently said benefits of the drug outweigh the risks.

One of the favourites to replace Angela Merkel as Germany’s chancellor, Markus Söder, has backed a so-called “bridging lockdown” of two to three weeks until vaccinations help cut the rate of infection.The idea came from the leader of Merkel’s CDU party, Armin Laschet, even though he’s previously resisted calls for tougher measures. Infections in the past 24 hours are below 10,000, which is well down on a week ago. Germany’s network of family doctors has begun taking part in the vaccination campaign.

An overnight curfew in Hanover in northern Germany has been lifted after a court declared it probably unlawful. The court said existing measures had not properly been enforced and a curfew should only be seen as a last resort.

Two Italian police were hurt yesterday in scuffles during a Rome protest by traders and restaurant owners calling for a reopening of businesses. Extremist groups reportedly infiltrated the protest.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has blamed the EU for the slow rollout of vaccinations. Italy blocked 250,000 Oxford-AstraZeneca doses last month but Morrison also says EU export controls have meant another 3.1 million doses are still to arrive. However, EU officials reportedly say it’s the drug’s producer and not them holding things up.