United Kingdom

LONDON, Aug 2 (Reuters) - England's COVID-19 mobile phone app will be tweaked so that fewer contacts of asymptomatic people who test positive for the disease will need to self-isolate, Britain's health ministry said on Monday.

Business leaders have raised concerns about the numbers of staff who are having to self-isolate after being "pinged" by the app when they come into contact with someone who then tests positive for COVID-19.

02 Aug 2021; MEMO: Around 250 cyclists went to London yesterday as the Big Ride for Palestine completed the final stage of the journey from Bristol to the capital raising awareness of the Palestinian cause and funds for children in the Gaza Strip. Crowds welcomed the riders along the way in Swindon, Oxford and Luton, with receptions featuring local mayors, councillors and trade union officials.

LONDON, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- The work plan of the World Health Organization (WHO) on the second phase of investigation into the origins of COVID-19 is politicized and lacks a spirit of cooperation, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Britain said Sunday.

Responding to the question of why China rejected the WHO's work plan, the spokesperson said the plan "was heavily disrupted by politicization and was a document that lost scientific principles and lacked a spirit of cooperation."

LONDON, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Britain's Finance Minister Rishi Sunak has pressed for an easing of travel restrictions to offer respite to the tourism sector amid concerns that the country is not reaping the benefit of its vaccination programme, the Sunday Times reported.

Sunak had written to Prime Minister Boris Johnson warning of the impact that Britain's strict border controls were having ahead a meeting of ministers on Thursday to consider changes, the newspaper said, citing a source familiar with the letter.

The Treasury declined to comment.

30 July 2021; MEMO: Following his recent legal victory against anti-Islam activist and founder of the far-right English Defence League, Tommy Robinson, Syrian schoolboy Jamal Hijazi, has pledged to use the money he won in damages to establish a charity for young people.

LONDON (AP) — AstraZeneca said Thursday that it intends to seek U.S. authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine in the second half of this year, offering a new timetable for the much-delayed application.

The Anglo-Swedish drugmaker announced the schedule as it released second-quarter financial results, which showed that the company and its sub-licensees delivered more than 700 million doses of the vaccine to over 170 countries in the first half of this year. That includes 80 million doses that went to the COVAX initiative for low- and middle-income countries.

LONDON, July 28 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson wants U.S. citizens to come to England "freely" and is discussing a travel corridor with the United States, LBC radio said on Wednesday, before an expected easing of COVID-19 restrictions for visitors from abroad.

Airline and travel bosses have criticised Britain for sticking to strict COVID-19 travel rules which they say mean the country is falling behind the European Union in attracting tourists, but that looks set to change.

LONDON, July 27 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday that people should not get carried away by six days of better COVID-19 infection data, while one of the country's top epidemiologists said the end of the pandemic could be just months away.

Johnson has lifted restrictions in England and is betting he can get one of Europe's largest economies firing again because so many people are now vaccinated, a decision which marks a new chapter in the response to the novel coronavirus.

LONDON, July 27 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia will impose a three-year travel ban on citizens travelling to countries on the kingdom's 'red list' under efforts to curb the spread of coronavirus and its new variants, state news agency SPA said on Tuesday.

It cited an unnamed interior ministry official as saying some Saudi citizens, who in May were allowed to travel abroad without prior permission from authorities for the first time since March 2020, had violated travel regulations.

26 July 2021; MEMO: After a year out due to Covid-19, the Big Ride for Palestine is heading for London from Bristol on Thursday, stopping off in Swindon, Oxford and Luton along the way. Around 200 cyclists are expected to finish the ride in Tower Hamlets on Sunday afternoon.