UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who has led the country’s response to the coronavirus, resigned Saturday, a day after apologizing for breaching social distancing rules with an aide with whom he was allegedly having an affair, AP reports.

Britain could face gaps on supermarket shelves this summer and an "unimaginable" collapse of supply chains after the pandemic and Brexit led to a shortage of more than 100,000 truck drivers, industry leaders have warned, Reuters reports.

British nationals living in the European Union are having difficulty accessing benefits, services and jobs, Home Secretary Priti Patel said Wednesday, speaking on the fifth anniversary of the Brexit vote. For EU citizens living in Britain, immigration officials have announced a 28-day period to apply for the right to remain.

Switzerland went on the road to full reopening by announcing today a plan aimed at putting the country at Europe's vanguard of back-to-normal life, news wires reported. The plan balances on protecting the economy with keeping some pandemic-related health measures.

UK government announced on Wednesday that immigration enforcement officials will begin giving EU citizens who live in the UK a 28-day warning to apply to remain, British media reported. But the Home Office will allow people indefinite time to complete an application for settled status if they have a reasonable excuse for delay, BBC noted. The deadline for the EU settlement scheme was set for 30 June but Immigration minister Kevin Foster said anyone whose application was not concluded by that date would not lose out, as their rights were protected in law.

Britain's airlines and holiday companies are planning a "day of action" on Wednesday to ramp up pressure on the government to ease travel restrictions, Reuters reported. Travel companies, whose finances have been stretched to breaking point during the pandemic, are desperate to avoid another summer lost to Covid-19. But with Britain's strict quarantine requirements still in place that now looks likely.

Robert Schuman, known as one of the primary architects of the European Union, is on his way to beatification by the Catholic Church. Pope Francis approved a list of people for the procedure on Saturday that includes the late French foreign minister, who laid the conceptual foundation of the EU in the wake of the devastation brought by World War II.

The UK’s latest surge in coronavirus infections gathered pace Thursday with new confirmed cases rising above 10,000 for the first time in nearly four months as a result of the spread of the more contagious delta variant, AP reported. Government figures showed another 11,007 cases were reported.

Northern Ireland's biggest parties agreed on Thursday to back a replacement for former First Minister Arlene Foster, staving off a fresh political crisis in the British-run region that threatened to lead to a snap election, Reuters reported. Foster resigned on Monday following her ousting as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). Her successor, Edwin Poots, is seeking to nominate his social conservative colleague Paul Givan to take over as first minister and has until Monday to secure support of other parties in the power-sharing government.

The Western alliance must respond to China's economic, political and military rise and the final NATO summit statement will present a new strategy towards Beijing, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday ahead of the Aliance summit in Brussels.