United Kingdom

LONDON, July 18 (Reuters) - Britain is backing 15 new studies into the treatment and diagnosis of "long COVID", a condition that can include dozens of symptoms and last for months after an initial bout of infection with COVID-19.

The projects, which will have nearly 20 million pounds ($27.54 million) of government funding, will focus on better understanding the condition, identifying effective treatments and the best ways to care for those suffering from it.

LONDON, July 17 (Xinhua) -- Britain has reported another 54,674 coronavirus cases in the latest 24-hour period, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 5,386,340, according to official figures released Saturday.

The figure is up from 51,870 cases reported on Friday, which was the highest since mid-January.

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will spend 10 days self-isolating after contact with a confirmed coronavirus case, his office said Sunday — reversing an earlier announcement that he would not have to quarantine.

Johnson’s 10 Downing St. office said Sunday that the prime minister and Treasury chief Rishi Sunak were both alerted overnight by England’s test-and-trace phone app. He had a meeting on Friday with Health Secretary Sajid Javid, who tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday. Javid, who has been fully vaccinated, says he is experiencing mild symptoms.

LONDON (AP) — Tourists and the travel industry vented frustration and anger on Saturday after Britain reversed a plan to ease travel restrictions on France just two days after they were due to start, citing concerns about a variant of the coronavirus.

16 July 2021; MEMO: Britain's role in fuelling the Saudi-led war in Yemen is much greater than earlier thought, according to a new report by the UK-based organisation Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT). More than three times as much weaponry and military equipment was sold to Riyadh over the past six years when one of the worst humanitarian crises since the Second World War was unfolding in the Arabian republic following a Saudi aggression.

LONDON, July 16 (Reuters) - England's coronavirus crisis could return again surprisingly quickly and the country is not yet out of the woods, the British government's chief medical adviser said, as infections surged ahead of the lifting of legal restrictions.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is removing most pandemic restrictions in England from July 19, saying a rapid rollout of COVID-19 vaccines has largely broken the link between infections and serious illness or death. 

15 July 2021; MEMO: The Palestinian affairs specialist for BBC Monitoring, Tala Halawa, was fired last month over a tweet criticising the Israeli offensive on Gaza in 2014, three years before being hired by the British news outlet.

LONDON (AP) — Here’s some of what happened while the world was distracted by the coronavirus: Hungary banned the public depiction of homosexuality. China shut Hong Kong’s last pro-democracy newspaper. Brazil’s government extolled dictatorship. And Belarus hijacked a passenger plane to arrest a journalist.

COVID-19 has absorbed the world’s energies and isolated countries from one another, which may have accelerated the creep of authoritarianism and extremism across the globe, some researchers and activists believe.

LONDON (AP) — Official figures show inflation in the U.K. rising to its highest level in nearly three years because of increases in the prices of food and motor fuel.

The Office for National Statistics said Wednesday that the annual rate of inflation rose to 2.5% in June from 2.1% the previous month. June’s rate is the highest August 2018 when inflation hit 2.7%.

LONDON (AP) — After Dr. Ifeanyi Nsofor and his wife received two doses of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine in Nigeria, they assumed they would be free to travel this summer to a European destination of their choice. They were wrong.

The couple — and millions of other people who have been vaccinated through a U.N.-backed effort — could find themselves barred from entering many European and other countries because those nations don’t recognize the Indian-made version of the vaccine for travel.