Travellers testing positive for Covid after arriving in the UK from China will not be forced to quarantine, a British Cabinet minister said.

All adults in the Republic of Ireland are now eligible for a second booster jab.

The country’s health minister announced the move amid an increase in coronavirus cases in neighbouring China.

Prof Breda Smyth said she is worried about an increase in hospital admissions and has asked people to help reduce transmission in the coming weeks.

Aerogen created an inhaler, the first of its kind, to deliver a vaccine directly into the airways, removing the need for injections.

The announcement includes limiting the scale of lockdown to individual apartment floors and buildings.

The country reported 17,772 new cases over the last 24 hours.

The country reported 10,729 new cases on Friday, almost all of them asymptomatic.

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Wednesday’s preliminary hearing in London marked the beginning of the Northern Ireland-focused module of the UK-wide inquiry.

The figures were published by the Central Statistics Office in its Labour Market analysis.

China is sticking to a severe “Zero Covid” strategy that has shut down Shanghai and other major cities this year.

The president also called on Congress to provide the billions of dollars requested to buy additional vaccines, tests and treatments.