United Kingdom

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) concluded that the vaccine has met its strict standards of safety, quality and effectiveness. The UK has already vaccinated hundreds of thousands of patients with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and its roll out will continue.

"Remarkably, a year that has necessarily kept people apart has, in many ways, brought us closer," the Queen said, adding that "even on the darkest nights there is hope in the new dawn".

By the new deal, reached after nine months of hard negotiations between London and Brussels, Britain has "taken back control of our laws and our destiny," he said, adding that his country has also taken back control of money, borders and fishing waters. The deal is a comprehensive Canada-style deal, the prime minister said, adding that it will protect jobs across Britain.

The EU and the UK reached a post-Brexit trade deal on Thursday, just a week before the Brexit transition period ends on December 31, 2020. The deal is beneficial for the French economy, commented France's leading economic daily Les Echos.

To curb the spread of COVID-19, Sussex, Oxfordshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, parts of Essex that are not currently in Tier Four, Waverley in Surrey and Hampshire will all enter Tier Four from Boxing Day, Hancock said at a virtual press conference from the Downing Street on Wednesday, Xinhua news agency reported.

Announcing the development at a press briefing where he outlined further restrictions in south and east England, Hancock said there are two cases of the new variant in the UK, both contacts of cases who have travelled from South Africa.

Australia's federal health minister Greg Hunt said on Monday that the new strain has been detected in a small number of cases, The Guardian reported. The health ministry in Italy on Sunday said that it detected a patient with the new Covid-19 strain found in Britain. The patient, who is now in isolation, returned from the UK in the past few days.

The resumption will come a day after EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier and his UK counterpart David Frost met in Brussels on Sunday, but key issues remained unresolved, reports the BBC. Following his meeting with Frost, Barnier said the negotiations were at a "crucial moment", but any agreement must be "balanced and reciprocal".

The suspension will start with effect from 23.59 hours on December 22, 2020. Consequently, all flights from India to UK shall also stand temporarily suspended during the period, said a Ministry tweet.

The development came after nations including France, Bulgaria, Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Irish Republic, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Switzerland and Canada have announced the suspension of UK flights. France has also closed its border with the UK for 48 hours, meaning no lorries or ferry passengers will be able to sail from the port of Dover.