Angela Merkel says Germany needs to apply an “emergency brake” on the lifting of coronavirus restrictions as cases surge.

Germany’s national disease control centre says new infections are growing exponentially as the more contagious variant first detected in Britain has become dominant in the country.

Ms Merkel had agreed to reimpose restrictions in regions where the case rate climbed above 100 per 100,000 inhabitants.

The nationwide average stood at 95.6 on Friday.

Ms Merkel said that “unfortunately, we will have to make use of this emergency brake”.

Nearly 50 per cent of the UK adult population has received a first dose of the coronavirus vaccine, around three months after the rollout began.

More than 26 million have got jabs so far, with an estimated 73,000 needed to pass the halfway mark. Nearly 400,000 first doses are being administered per day.

England individually has seen just over 50 per cent receive a first dose, according to the latest estimates by the Office for National Statistics.

A separate milestone has been passed in Wales, as one in 10 of the total population is thought to have had both doeses of the vaccine.

Lockdown restrictions have been reintroduced in Poland and large parts of France.

In Poland, non-essential shops along with cultural and sports facilities are set to close for three weeks as the country sees the highest daily rates of new cases since November.

Around 22 million in France, nearly one-third of the population, will be covered by the month-long lockdown, which forces non-essential businesses to close and put tight restrictions on movement.

Cases rose by 14 per cent in the past week in France, with 35,000 new infections in the past day.

Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s rolling coverage of the pandemic today.