Britain will launch a new health security agency next week to better prepare for and tackle pandemics by bringing together its testing, analytical and scientific capabilities.
The new agency, called the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), will be headed up by Jenny Harries, England's deputy chief medical officer, who has been at the forefront of the government's efforts to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.
Britain has one of the highest death tolls from the novel coronavirus but is gradually easing the latest lockdown under a four-step plan underpinned by the success of its vaccination programme.
"On the first of April, so next week, we will formally establish the new UK Health Security Agency. UKHSA, as it will be known, will be this country's permanent standing capacity to plan, prevent and respond to external threats to health," health minister Matt Hancock said in a speech to the Local Government Association.
Israel's military carried out airstrikes in Rafah on Monday, residents said, hours after Israel told Palestinians to evacuate parts of the southern Gaza city where more than a million people uprooted by the war have been sheltering.
Russia said on Monday it would practice the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons as part of a military exercise after what Moscow said were threats from France, Britain, and the United States.
The death toll from rains in Brazil's southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul rose to 83, local authorities said on Saturday morning, while dozens still have not been accounted for.
Ukrainian drone attacks on two buses taking people to work killed six people and injured another 35 in the Belgorod region of Russia, the governor said on Monday.