Johnson, who is expected to confirm plans to relaunch international travel and open sections of the economy later on Monday, said the new mass testing programme would break the chain of transmissions and spot cases without symptoms.

Japanese health authorities are concerned that variants of the coronavirus are driving a nascent fourth wave in the pandemic with just 109 days remaining until the Tokyo Olympics.

A Taiwan express train with almost 500 aboard derailed in a tunnel on Friday after hitting a truck that had slid down a bank onto the track, killing at least 50 passengers and injuring 146 in the island’s worst rail disaster in seven decades.

The European Union on Friday condemned the “harassment” of foreign journalists in China after a BBC correspondent left the country in the face of legal threats and pressure from authorities.

Opponents of military rule in Myanmar marched and laid bouquets of flowers on Friday while trying to find alternative ways to organise their campaign of dissent after the authorities cut off most users from the internet.

Myanmar’s deposed leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has been charged with breaking a colonial-era official secrets law, her lawyer said on Thursday, the most serious charge against the veteran opponent of military rule.

Seven high-profile Hong Kong pro-democracy figures were convicted on Thursday for taking part in unauthorised protests in 2019.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has labeled Europe’s rollout of Covid-19 vaccines as “unacceptably slow,” warning delays are “prolonging the pandemic” and described a surge in new infections in the region as “worrying.”

China deflected questions over an investigation into the origins of Covid-19 on Wednesday, after the WHO chief revived a theory it may have leaked from a Chinese lab and the United States led concerns over data access.

Myanmar’s deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi appeared in good health in a video meeting on Wednesday, one of her lawyers said, as the United States ordered its non-essential embassy staff to leave after “horrifying” violence against opponents of a

The European Union has fallen short of vaccinating 80 per cent of health care workers and people over the age of 80 against Covid-19 by the end of March, a target set by the bloc’s executive branch.

Twenty-five world leaders have thrown their weight behind a proposal from European Council President Charles Michel to draw up a new international treaty on pandemic preparedness in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis.

Thai authorities forced thousands of refugees fleeing air attacks by the army in neighbouring Myanmar to return to southeastern Karen state, two activist groups said on Monday.

Shipping traffic through Egypt’s Suez Canal resumed on Monday after a giant container ship which had been blocking the busy waterway for almost a week was refloated, the canal authority said.

Chinese officials on Monday said Sweden’s H&M and other foreign brands should not make rash moves or step into politics after the companies raised concerns about forced labour in Xinjiang, sparking a furious online backlash and boycotts.

India’s western state of Maharashtra imposed night curfews on Sunday to tackle a surge in coronavirus cases, with the financial capital Mumbai reporting its highest single-day jump since last March.

Myanmar security forces opened fire on Sunday, witnesses said, at people gathered for the funeral of one of the 114 people killed the previous day, the bloodiest day of protests since the military coup on Feb. 1.

The pressure is mounting on Egypt to dislodge a massive container ship which has blocked the Suez Canal since Tuesday, as more shipping firms are rerouting their vessels away from the waterway.

China imposed sanctions on nine Britons including lawmakers in the governing Conservative party for spreading what it said were “lies and disinformation” about alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang, prompting a sharp rebuke from London.

North Korea on Friday said it had test-fired two “new-type tactical guided missiles” a day earlier, state news outlet KCNA reported.

An operation is intensifying to dislodge a giant container ship that has blocked the Suez Canal, one of the world’s busiest trade routes, since Tuesday, triggering fears of a significant toll on global trade.

Thousands of protesters gathered in the Thai capital Bangkok on Wednesday to demand reform of the monarchy and the release of jailed leaders, days after one of the most violent demonstrations since they began last year.

Three people were killed on Tuesday including seven-year-old girl Khin Myo Chit, shot dead at her home in Mandalay, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), a local monitoring group.

Australia was set on Monday to evacuate thousands more people from suburbs in Sydney’s west, battered by the worst flooding in 60 years, with torrential rains expected to continue for another day or two.

Britain on Monday demanded the European Union allow the delivery of COVID-19 vaccines it has ordered as tensions over a possible export ban on EU-manufactured shots mounted and Brussels pointed an accusing finger at drugmaker AstraZeneca.

The European Union has sanctioned four Chinese officials and one entity in the western region of Xinjiang for abuses against the Uighur people, the first time in decades the bloc has hit Beijing with restrictive measures for human rights violations.

The European Union is not currently in the position to directly donate coronavirus vaccines to poorer countries, said EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Heavy rains along Australia’s east coast over the weekend have brought the worst flooding in half a century in some areas, authorities said on Sunday, forcing thousands to evacuate and damaging hundreds of houses.

Demonstrators in Myanmar maintained their unflinching opposition to military rule on Sunday despite a rising death toll at the hands of security forces as the junta appeared equally determined to resist growing outside pressure to compromise.

The first high-level U.S.-China meeting of the Biden administration got off to a fiery start on Thursday, with both sides leveling sharp rebukes of the others’ policies in a rare public display that underscored the level of bilateral tension.