Fully vaccinated travelers from the United States and much of Europe will be able to enter Britain without quarantining starting next week, UK officials said Wednesday, AP reported. The British government said people who have received both doses of a vaccine approved by the FDA in the US or by the European Medicines Agency, which regulates drugs for the European Union and several other countries, will be able to take pre- and post-arrival coronavirus tests instead of self-isolating for 10 days after entering England.

Britain registered lower coronavirus case numbers for seven days in a row on Tuesday, a decline that has surprised officials and experts. However, PM Boris Johnson called for caution, news wires reported. Recorded infection rates across the UK have dropped for seven consecutive days with 23,511 new cases announced on Tuesday compared to 46,558 a week earlier -- a fall of nearly 50%.

The number of new daily cases of Covid-19 in the UK has fallen for the fifth day in a row, news wires reported. A total of 29,173 cases announced by the government on Sunday, were down from the 48,161 recorded a week ago on 18 July. It is the fifth day in a row that the number of daily reported cases has dropped, with average daily cases down 15% week on week. The last time cases fell for five consecutive days was between 5 and 9 February.

Britain on Wednesday demanded a new deal to oversee post-Brexit trade involving Northern Ireland and warned the EU that London would be justified in unilaterally deviating from a deal it struck with the bloc just last year, news wires reported.

Tense post-Brexit relations between Britain and the European Union face further strain on Wednesday, when the UK calls for major changes to trade rules agreed on by both sides, AP reported. Brexit minister David Frost will set out proposals for smoothing out trade arrangements for Northern Ireland, the only part of the UK that has a land border with the 27-nation bloc. The divorce deal agreed before Britain’s departure means customs and border checks must be conducted on some goods moving between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.

Britain, despite some warnings, lifted on Monday most restrictions in what some have dubbed "Freedom Day", news wires reported. Epidemiologists are generally sceptical that lifting restrictions is the right thing to do, but many young British people have had enough of more than 1 1/2 years of lockdowns, and said they long for a party.

Britain announced on Friday that it was scrapping a planned easing of coronavirus rules for travellers from France, which had been due to take effect on Monday, because of the continued presence of the Beta variant of COVID first identified in South Africa, Reuters reported.

The world heritage committee of the UN's cultural agency UNESCO starts debating on Friday its list of World Heritage sites, with Australia and Britain furious over looming changes to the status of the Great Barrier Reef and Liverpool city. Nearly 50 new sites could be added to the over 1,100 listed worldwide by UNESCO as World Heritage, during two weeks of online meetings hosted by China, AFP reported. The agenda is particularly heavy after last year's meeting was cancelled because of the Covid pandemic.

British PM Boris Johnson is set to table out later today plans for the final step in easing England's Covid-19 lockdown, including further guidance on social distancing, face coverings and working from home, news wires reported. As of 19 July most restrictions in England will be lifted with final decision due on 12 July.

Britain is on course to be able to lift most remaining Covid-19 restrictions on 19 July, PM Boris Johnson said on Monday, cited by news agencies. This is his most confident statement yet that the so-called "Freedom Day" will finally take place.