Craigavon

The British government on Friday announced that it had secured early access to 90 million doses of two new promising vaccine candidates.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to unveil an alert system on Sunday to monitor the nationwide coronavirus outbreak, with different levels informing how and where the lockdown could be eased.

Britain plans to introduce a 14-day mandatory quarantine for most international arrivals, reports said Saturday, despite growing pressure on the government to relax virus lockdown measures.

Professor Neil Ferguson said he had stepped down from his role advising ministers on the coronavirus lockdown after “undermining the clear message” to stay at home.

Britain’s death toll linked to the novel coronavirus has risen to 29,427, the government said on Tuesday, meaning it has overtaken Italy in recording Europe’s highest total.

The United Kingdom (UK) has the highest coronavirus death rate in Europe, new data has revealed.

The coronavirus pandemic has killed more than 170 000 people globally, close to two-thirds of them in hardest-hit Europe, according to an AFP tally on Tuesday at 09:35 (GMT).

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her 94th birthday on Tuesday, but the traditional gun salute was called off this year because of the coronavirus crisis.

A rift has opened up over the design of smartphone apps to trace people in Europe at risk of coronavirus infection, potentially hindering efforts to curb the pandemic and ease crippling travel restrictions.

Prominent Nigerian Pastor TB Joshua has again waded into the contentious issue of the worldwide coronavirus outbreak, calling on world leaders to reopen the economy.

The British government defended the continuation of its near-lockdown on Monday against calls to publish an “exit strategy,” saying it fears a second peak of COVID-19 infections if it eases the lockdown too soon.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson met his senior ministers on Thursday before setting out on a delicate mission to convince sceptical EU leaders to back his new Brexit plan.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson will submit “final” proposals for a new Brexit agreement on Wednesday, officials said, warning that if the European Union did not engage with them, Britain would leave the bloc this month with no divorce deal.

Prime Minister Theresa May urged the EU to "step forward together" with Britain on Friday as the bloc's leaders hoped she would finally offer a compromise to reach a Brexit divorce deal in December.

EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier on Friday said the negotiators gave Britain a deadline of two weeks to come to an agreement over the outstanding issues on Brexit.