The UK is vaccinating up to 140 people per minute against Covid-19 on average, Vaccine Deployment Minister Nadhim Zahawi said on Monday cited by Reuters. Latest figures show the UK has vaccinated so far 3,857,266 people with a first dose and 449,736 with a second dose.

Britain announced plans to hold the first in-person meeting of the G7 for nearly two years in June, inviting the leaders of major developed economies to a picturesque seaside village to discuss rebuilding from the pandemic and climate change.

Britain will ban arrivals from South American countries and Portugal because of concerns over a new Brazilian variant of the coronavirus, transport minister Grant Shapps said. PM Boris Johnson expressed concern about the Brazilian strain on Wednesday and Britain is already trying to contain a UK variant behind a surge in cases at the end of last year.

People who have had COVID-19 are highly likely to have immunity to it for at least five months, but there is evidence that those with antibodies may still be able to carry and spread the virus, a study of British healthcare workers has found.

The UK’s biggest supermarket chains warned Wednesday that food supplies in Northern Ireland face disruption because of new checks imposed by Britain’s departure from the European Union.

England’s health care system may move patients into hotels to ease pressure on hospitals struggling to handle rising COVID-19 admissions.

Britain will have offered Covid-19 vaccines to those in the top four priority categories - about 15 million people - by the middle of next month, Nadhim Zahawi, British minister responsible for vaccination programme said on Monday. “The vaccinations are really beginning to ramp up, 200,000 a day, we’ve done an incredible job this past week,” Zahawi told Sky News, saying they would offer shots to those in the highest risk levels, the eldest and frontline health workers, by the middle of February.

Arrivals to England and Scotland, including UK nationals, will be required to test negative for coronavirus before entering the country starting next week, news wires reported.

The pandemic situation in Switzerland remains serious despite restrictions introduced last month, Interior Minister Alain Berset said at a news conference today. “The infections have remained at more or less the same level since the beginning of December,” he pointed out.

Britain said on Wednesday that it signed a 550 million pound ($751 million) contract with European weapons-maker MBDA to manufacture surface-attack missiles for use on the country’s F-35B fighter jets.