The United Kingdom left the European Union's orbit on Thursday, turning its back on a tempestuous 48-year liaison. Brexit, in essence, took place at the strike of midnight in Brussels, or 2300 London time (GMT), when the United Kingdom ended the de facto membership, known as the transition period, which lasted 11 months after it formally left on Jan. 31.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's father Stanley confirmed plans on Thursday to seek French citizenship as the free movement of Britons in the EU comes to an end under the Brexit pact delivered by his son. Europe is more than the single market, it's more than the European Union." "That said, to have a link like that with the EU is important," he said, apparently referring to an EU passport.
Britain said on Wednesday it would prioritise making sure that more people receive their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine quickly over giving a second shot to those who have already had one, a change in strategy as the country battles record numbers of new coronavirus cases.
The British government has extended its toughest coronavirus restrictions to three-quarters of England's population as the fast-spreading new variant of Covid virus has reached most of the country. The government said that the top infection-warning level, Tier 4, would be expanded beyond London and the southeast to cover large swaths of central, northern and southwest England.
Britain on Wednesday authorized emergency use of a second Covid-19 vaccine, becoming the first country to greenlight an easy-to-handle shot that its developers hope will become the "vaccine for the world." The Department of Health said it had accepted a recommendation from the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency to authorize the vaccine developed by Oxford University and UK-based drugmaker AstraZeneca.
UK on Wednesday became the first country in the world to approve a coronavirus vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca as it battles a major winter surge driven by a new, highly contagious variant of the virus. "The government has today accepted the recommendation from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to authorise Oxford University/AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine for use," the health ministry said. Regulatory endorsement is a welcome boost for AstraZeneca and the Oxford team, which have been accused of a lack of clarity about the results from late-stage trials.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's toddler son Archie was heard speaking for the first time on Tuesday, as the couple released their first podcast, with British media seizing on his "American" accent. Archie wished listeners "Happy New Year" at the end of the couple's debut on the Spotify audio streaming platform. Archie's appearance comes after the couple launched a spate of legal actions against the media over alleged breaches of their privacy.
The new strain of coronavirus, called B.1.1.7., is likely to have led to a rapid surge in the number of coronavirus cases in the UK in the last weeks of December. Hospitals across the country are grappling with increased occupancy of Covid patients.
The new rules, confirmed on Monday, will prohibit retailers from offering multibuy promotions such as “buy one get one free” or “3 for 2” offers on these products. Free refills of sugary soft drinks will also be prohibited in the eating-out sector.
British hospitals are canceling non-urgent procedures and scrambling to find space for Covi-19 patients as coronavirus cases continue to surge despite tough new restrictions imposed to curb a fast-spreading new variant of the virus. Nick Scriven, immediate past president of the Society for Acute Medicine, said Monday that the rising number of hospitalized patients was "extremely worrying."
The Covid-19 vaccine developed by the British drugs group AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford has achieved a "winning formula" for efficacy, the company's chief executive said on Sunday.The vaccine, currently being evaluated by Britain's independent medicines regulator, provides "100 percent protection" against severe Covid disease requiring hospitalisation, Pascal Soriot said in an interview with the Sunday Times newspaper.
George Blake, a famous "mole" in British intelligence who spied for the Soviet KGB during the 1950s before fleeing across the Iron Curtain, has died aged 98, Russian news agencies reported Saturday.
The 94-year-old monarch, who spent her first Christmas in decades without a larger royal family gathering, called for tolerance and mutual respect and reminded people of the contribution made to national life by people of many faiths and backgrounds.
All four cases involved people who recently arrived from the UK, the Madrid regional government's deputy health chief Antonio Zapatero told a news conference.The four cases involved people who recently arrived from the UK, the Madrid regional government's deputy health chief Antonio Zapatero told a news conference.The four cases involved people who recently arrived from the UK, the Madrid regional government's deputy health chief Antonio Zapatero told a news conference.
The EU has offered Britain unprecedented tariff- and quota-free access to its single market of 450 million consumers. But it has in return secured London's commitment to respect its always-evolving rules in some areas such as environmental protection, labour regulation and tax. The UK has also signed up to guarantees that it will not abuse state aid to firms to seek an unfair advantage.
A mutated coronavirus strain spreading in Britain is on average 56 per cent more contagious than the original version, scientists have warned in a study, urging a fast vaccine rollout to help prevent more deaths.
Negotiators from the European Union and Britain worked through the night and into Christmas Eve to put the finishing touches on a trade deal that should avert a chaotic economic break between the two sides next week.
Vaccines are the world's best hope of ending a pandemic that has claimed more than 1.7 million lives globally. More than 60 Covid-19 vaccine candidates are currently undergoing human trials, according to the World Health Organization.
Some of the thousands of lorry drivers stuck near the British port of Dover said they feared there was little chance of making it across the Channel in time for the holidays.
Britain has some of the most sophisticated genomic surveillance efforts in the world, which allowed scientists there to discover the variant when it might have gone unnoticed elsewhere, experts said. Dr Hans Kluge, the WHO's regional director for Europe, said that member states would try to come up with a coherent approach to any threat posed by the variant.
LONDON: Europe on Wednesday began lifting travel bans on Britain put in place to contain a new fast-spreading Covid strain while WHO experts were set to meet on a response to it. Meanwhile, in the United States, President Donald Trump rejected a massive Covid economic relief package passed by Congress, branding it "a disgrace" as millions of Americans are suffering fallout from the pandemic.
Republic TV owner Arnab Goswami’s Hindi news channel in Britain, Republic Bharat, has been fined £20,000 by the UK's broadcasting regulator for promoting and justifying hatred towards Pakistani people.
Scientists in the UK are investigating the impact of a new mutant variant of coronavirus, named VUI-202012/01, on children and whether its faster transmission in parts of England is down to the younger segment of the population.
Dozens of countries around the world have slapped tough travel curbs on the U.K. in recent days: From Canada to India, nations banned flights from Britain, while France barred the entry of trucks from the country for 48 hours from late Sunday while the strain is assessed.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson was to chair a crisis meeting Monday as a growing number of countries blocked flights from Britain over a new highly infectious coronavirus strain the UK said was "out of control". The World Health Organization also called for stronger containment measures across Europe, which has passed 500,000 deaths from Covid-19.
France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Ireland, Belgium, Israel and Canada shut off travel ties after Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned that a highly infectious new strain of the virus was a danger to the country.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson was to chair the COBR emergencies committee on Monday, his office said, after a slew of nations from Turkey to Canada blocked arrivals from Britain by air.
British health secretary Matt Hancock said Sunday that the government has imposed a strict Christmas lockdown in London and southeast England because a new strain of the coronavirus was "out of control".Hancock warned that the strict measures that affect almost a third of England's population could stay in place until the virus vaccine is fully rolled out.
London and southeast England may stay under tighter coronavirus curbs for some time, Britain's health minister suggested on Sunday. Prime Minister Boris Johnson tore up plans on Saturday to allow three households to mix indoors for five days over the festive period, imposing new Tier 4 level curbs similar to a recent national lockdown on London and southeast England.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson imposed an effective lockdown on over 16 million people in England and reversed plans to ease curbs over Christmas, saying Britain was dealing with a new coronavirus strain up to 70% more transmissible than the original.
"As a result of the rapid spread of the new variant, preliminary modelling data and rapidly rising incidence rates in the South East (an expert body advising the government) now consider that the new strain can spread more quickly," Whitty said.
The developers of the vaccine candidate, which has been licensed to pharmaceuticals company AstraZeneca, have already published later stage trial results showing higher efficacy when a half dose is followed by a full dose, compared to a two full-dose regime. However, more work needs to be done to affirm that result.
Britain was the first to approve the shot for emergency use on Dec. 3, followed by Canada and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.The German biotech firm's Chief Executive Ugur Sahin said in the call that he was confident that normal life could resume by next winter.
