Dr Clive Dix adds that the UK is "ahead of the game" in terms of anticipating coronavirus variants.

Police are called to five reports of stabbings in Croydon, south London, on Friday evening.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak offers "pay-as-you-grow" option to 1.4 million firms repaying Covid loans.

The plans, revealed in a leaked document, would reverse controversial changes made by David Cameron.

The cold snap will not be as extreme as in 2018, forecasters say, but will cause disruption this weekend.

The dog, believed to be a Staffordshire cross, has been handed over to police

The UK and French leaders speak for the first time since a recent bitter row over vaccine supplies.

Emma Robertson Coupland and Nicole Anderson were fatally injured and a man later died in a road crash.

Police in Northern Ireland issue a warning about an unspecified threat relating to Monday's Panorama.

The departures came after suspicions their work in the media was cover for intelligence gathering.

Roc Sandford's children have spent nine days in a tunnel in Euston in protest at the HS2 project.

Almost a year in to the pandemic, concerns remain over personal protective equipment.

The personal accounts of how the pandemic has changed life in one road in Bristol.

Almost all the side-effects of the two vaccines being used in the UK are mild and expected, says MHRA.

Barney and Sarah McGlinchey were holding hands in Altnagelvin Hospital when they passed away.

Leaders should not be "driven by a calendar", says a scientist advising the government.

The new strain was reported in South Africa on 18 December.

Will hydrogen or heat pumps be able to replace gas central heating?

Schools kept refusing to take Jacob who ended up dead at 16 following a descent into drug crime.

Six millennials lament the loss of the Oxford Street Topshop, which will not reopen after lockdown.

The volunteer who transformed her holiday rental into a seal hospital.

The NI Protocol problems, which have been in sharp focus this week, were predicted by civil servants.

17-year-old Shaan Ali told Radio 1 Newsbeat about his hobby of watching local council meetings

Martin Griffiths is working hard to get more people from ethnic minority communities vaccinated.

103-year-old Hilda Richards, who was a nurse in WW2, has received her first dose

The BBC's been given exclusive access to the unit tracking down Covid loan fraudsters.

Handforth Parish Council's Zoom meeting had insults, laughter and members being kicked out.

The Aids crisis drama's success sees a rise in the number of people testing for HIV, says a sexual health charity.

The border collie was sold for £27,000, breaking the £20,000 record that held by another Welsh dog.

The front pages look at how lockdown restrictions might be eased in the coming months.

The parents of Megan Smith face selling their home to cover costs, her brother says.

Rescuers said the boat and its crew were "seconds away" from hitting rocks near Peterhead.

A situation about a coronavirus rule breach during a commemoration to victims of a 1992 attack "escalated", police say.

But collecting thousands of tonnes of extra cardboard is "challenging", councils say.

Police hand out £34,000 in penalties as they break up the "absolutely appalling" event in Sheffield.