UK PM Johnson meets Germany's Merkel with COVID travel rules in focus

LONDON: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and German Chancellor Angela met on Friday with COVID-19 travel restrictions high on the agenda as cases of the highly transmissible Delta variant surge in Britain.

The meeting, hosted at Johnson's Chequers country residence on what will be Merkel's last trip to Britain as chancellor, was officially aimed at deepening relations. However, Johnson is also seeking to argue that Britain's advanced vaccine programme should permit its citizens to travel abroad more widely this year - something a hard-hit travel industry says it needs to survive after more than a year of pandemic restrictions.