The chief medical officers of the United Kingdom lowered their Covid-19 alert level on Thursday, citing a gradual reduction in pressure on the health service, news wires reported.

UK’s Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced on Sunday that lorry drivers returning to France from Britain will not now need to have a coronavirus test if they have spent less than 48 hours in the country, Reuters reported.

French President Emmanuel Macron has warned that Boris Johnson’s government has to decide who its allies are, insisting that “half-friends is not a concept”. “What politics does Great Britain wish to choose? It cannot be the best ally of the US, the best ally of the EU and the new Singapore … It has to choose a model,” Macron said, in an interview with the Guardian and a small group of other media.

British PM Boris Johnson indicated on Wednesday that the coronavirus lockdown in England will remain in place until at least 8 March as he ruled out any imminent return to school for most students, AP reported.

Britain’s PM Boris Johnson will travel today to Scotland in a bid to quell calls for a second independence vote, news wires reported. While in 2014, Scotland voted against independence, ties with London have strained since the 2016 Brexit vote to. Then the majority of Scots voted to stay in the EU as most of the UK voted to leave.

More than 20 world leaders and business representatives are to discuss the consequences of climate change at an international summit on Monday, dpa reported. The Climate Adaptation Summit (CAS) takes place upon invitation of the Dutch government but will be held online due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The so called English variant of Covid-19 proves to be more contagious and with higher lethal power, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said, quoted by Reuters. Johnson noted that it was possible to link the new variant with higher rate of mortality but elaborated that both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines proved to be effective. The new variant proves to be a challenge for Britain health system as it is transmitted easier.

In finalising its treaty with the EU, to the dismay of many, PM Boris Johnson has confirmed his last minute negative decision to no longer participate in the EU`s Erasmus programme. This comes as a severe blow to young people and to present and future students and teaching staff throughout our education and training sector. The many friends and partners abroad will be as perplexed as I am as to the reasoning behind this negative decision, whatever their views on the Brexit saga may be.

UK's Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Monday a new national lockdown for England until at least mid-February to combat a fast-spreading new variant of the coronavirus, news wires reported. Johnson said people must stay at home again, as they were ordered to do so in the first wave of the pandemic in March, this time because the new virus variant was spreading in a “frustrating and alarming” way.

Britain begins vaccinating its population on Monday with the COVID-19 shot developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca, touting its position as the first Western country to roll out an inoculation programme against the coronavirus, Reuters reported.