United Kingdom

Britain began inoculating its citizens with the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine against COVID-19 on Monday, giving the shot to Brian Pinker, an 82-year-old dialysis patient, at a hospital a few hundred metres away from where the vaccine was developed.

A new, mutated version of the coronavirus has appeared in Greece, carried by six arrivals from the UK, according to radio station Skai.

The carriers were five Greek and one UK citizens who arrived in Greece during Christmas week.

The new coronavirus mutation has shown high transmission rates in the United Kingdom.

The Ministry of Health states that, on the Romanian territory, the new SARS-Cov-2 variant detected in the United Kingdom has not been confirmed so far, and the confirmation procedure will be finalized in the next days.

Turkey has suspended entries from the U.K after detecting 15 cases of a new and more contagious variant of COVID-19 in travelers from Britain.

The United Kingdom has been added to the list of non-EU countries from which citizens are allowed entry to Greece as of next week, the Civil Aviation Authority said in its latest notam on Saturday.

Turkey's national flag carrier Turkish Airlines announced on Jan. 2 that flights from the U.K. to Turkey were suspended under travel restrictions due to the pandemic.

Meanwhile, the flights from Turkey to the U.K., and from the U.K. to other countries, including the transit flights, continue as planned, it noted.

A top health expert has expressed skepticism about schools being able to reopen safely to students this month, particularly in areas with high rates of coronavirus transmission.

The United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union has created a new environment for EU, and by extension Greek, students at the country's universities.

Indicatively, a visa will be required for the next academic year, while tuition fees will be determined by each individual academic institution. These fees will differ according to the field and level of studies.

Turkey announced its first cases of the U.K. coronavirus variant on Jan. 1 while stressing that all precautionary measures were being taken.

The UK stopped following EU rules at 23:00 CET as replacement arrangements for travel, trade, immigration and security co-operation came into force.

Boris Johnson said the UK had "freedom in our hands" and the ability to do things "differently and better" now the long Brexit process was over.

But opponents of leaving the EU maintain the country will be worse off.