Addressing homelessness has taken on new urgency in cities across the country over the past year, as officials grapple with a growing unhoused population and the need to preserve public safety during the coronavirus pandemic.

Why it matters: It’s led to tension when cities move in to clear encampments — often for health and safety reasons — causing some to rethink the role of law enforcement when interacting with people experiencing homelessness.

1. Vaccines: The barriers to vaccine passports — U.S. ahead of pace on vaccine.
2. Health: Why we need to know COVID's origins— CDC: Easing mask mandates led to higher COVID cases and deaths — A worrying decline in COVID testing.
3. Economy: U.S. economy added 379,000 jobs in February.
4. Politics: Senate passes $1.9 trillion COVID relief package.
5. World: Coronavirus variants driving another surge across Europe.
6. States: California theme parks, sports stadiums can begin reopening April 1 — West Virginia lifts COVID capacity limits on restaurants, many businesses — Oregon governor orders all public schools to reopen by mid-April.

The World Health Organization said this week that variants of the coronavirus are provoking another uptick in infections across Europe.

Why it matters: European countries reported around 1 million new cases last week, around a 9% increase from the week prior. Last week's surge ended a six-week decline in new infections, the WHO said Thursday, according to AP.

Nine great apes from the San Diego Zoo have received an experimental coronavirus vaccine, not designed for human use, National Geographic first reported.

Details: Four orangutans and five bonobos were inoculated with the vaccine developed by Zoetis, a veterinary pharmaceuticals company, according to The New York Times.

The Dalai Lama received his first dose of coronavirus vaccine on Saturday in a hospital in northern India, AP reports.

Why it matters: The 85-year-old Tibetan spiritual leader urged others to follow his example and get vaccinated. Ten other people who live in the Dalai Lama’s residence also got a dose of the vaccine.

Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores on Saturday received their first dose of Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine.

Details: Both Maduro, 58, and Flores, 64, said they felt fine after receiving the vaccine. They must get their second doses in 21 days.

People are lighting up social media with COVID-19 vaccination selfies.

Why it matters: After a long, hard year with COVID-19, vaccine selfies offer a much-needed dose of hope — and act as an advertisement for those on the fence about getting vaccinated.

Geopolitical tensions are foiling efforts to get to the bottom of how COVID-19 originated.

Why it matters: Insights into how COVID-19 began can help us prevent future pandemics — especially if it involved any kind of leak or accident at a virology lab.

Daily COVID-19 tests in the U.S. have declined by more than a quarter since mid-January.

Why it matters: Even with cases and deaths falling dramatically in recent weeks, the pandemic is far from finished, and less demand for testing could put us a step behind the spread.

Vaccine passports could become available soon to help people resume their lives — but they face numerous scientific, social and political barriers to being accepted.

The big picture: Reliable and accessible proof of vaccine-induced protection from the novel coronavirus could speed international travel and economic reopening, but obstacles to its wide-scale adoption are so great it may never fully arrive.