• Travel and leisure stocks tanked 4% to lead the losses in Europe on news that Portugal has imposed a quarantine on unvaccinated arrivals from the U.K.
• In the U.K. Monday, new Health Secretary Sajid Javid will update lawmakers on when the U.K. can expect to ease Covid-19 measures further.
• British fashion brand Burberry slumped almost 9% after announcing CEO Marco Gobbetti will depart to take the top job at Italian rival Ferragamo.

LONDON — European stocks fell on Monday as investors monitored rising Covid-19 cases around the globe.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed down by 0.6% provisionally, with travel and leisure stocks tanking 4.3% to lead the losses on news that Portugal has imposed a quarantine on unvaccinated arrivals from the U.K.

On Wall Street, the major U.S. stock indexes struggled for direction, though a strong start for tech stocks powered the Nasdaq to a fresh record.

U.S. equities posted their best week in months on Friday as investors grew more relaxed about inflation, seeing an acceleration in prices as a temporary uptick rather than a sustained economic threat.

In the U.K. Monday, new Health Secretary Sajid Javid will update lawmakers on when the U.K. can expect to ease Covid-19 measures further. Covid restrictions are currently due to end on July 19, the date already having been extended due to the spread of the delta variant.

In corporate news, Daimler is on track to spin off its truck unit by the end of the year, its Chief Financial Officer Harald Wilhelm told German publication Automobilwoche in a report published Sunday. The stock was down 2.3%.

Meanwhile, Dutch insurer NN Group announced Sunday that it had offered to acquire some of MetLife's businesses in Europe, though the size of the offer and the specific businesses targeted remain undisclosed. NN Group's shares finished flat.

Oil prices slipped after briefly notching highs last seen in October 2018 on Monday ahead of the OPEC+ meeting this week and as the U.S. and Iran remain at odds over the revival of the nuclear deal, halting an expected spike in Iranian exports.

Brent crude sank 1.3%, trading at $75.16 per barrel while U.S. crude futures slipped 1.2% to $73.17.

In terms of individual share price movement, Finnish telecoms giant Nokia climbed 5.8% to lead the Stoxx 600 after Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock.

At the bottom of the European blue chip index, British fashion brand Burberry slumped 8.7% after announcing that CEO Marco Gobbetti will depart to take the top job at Italian luxury goods company Ferragamo.

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- CNBC's Ryan Browne contributed reporting to this story.