People travelling from Myanmar to England do not need to take a Covid-19 test prior to departure, the Department for Transport (DfT) has said.

Although this is normally compulsory for all travellers, the exemption has been made in light of the coup in Myanmar on 1 February.

“The present situation in Myanmar means that it is not reasonable to seek to obtain a pre-departure coronavirus test in that country before departure to England,”the DfT said in a statement.

The department will review this policy every 10 days starting on 1 March.

More than one in 10 coronavirus patients died within five months of being released from hospital, research has found.

Papers released by the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies ISage) also showed that nearly a third of Covid-19 survivors had to be readmitted to hospital.

Our health correspondent Shaun Lintern has the details:

Russia has approved a third coronavirus vaccine for domestic use, the country’s prime minister Mikhail Mishustin announced on Saturday.

Large-scale clinicial trials for the new vaccine – known as CoviVac – have yet to take place. Russia took the same approach with its previous approvals, but only started using them for mass vaccinations once they were shown to be effective.

More than two million Russians have been give at least one dose of the Sputnik V vaccine, according to the health ministry.

The Philippines has reported 239 new Covid-19 deaths, its second-highest daily jump in casualties since the start of the pandemic.

Only the death toll of 259 from 14 September is higher.

In total, 12,068 have died with the virus in the Philippines and there have been 559,288 confirmed infections.

Rodrigo Duterte, the country’s president, will decide next week whether to lift some restrictions in the capital, Manila, in an attempt to kickstart the economy.

Britain should start donating coronavirus vaccines to developing countries now, the new head of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has said.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s comment on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme comes after Boris Johnson pledged to donate the majority of the UK’s surplus doses to Covax, an initiative distributing vaccines to middle- and low-income nations.

However, this is not expected to happen for some time.

Ms Okonjo-Iweala said: “I think that any donations that are coming must come now.

“The reason is very simple. It’s in the interest of rich countries as well as poor countries to have equitable access.”

The relaxation of rules on care home visits is a “welcome step forward”, the head of the National Care Association has said.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Nadra Ahmed said the decision to allow indoor visits from 8 March comes after a “gruelling” year.

“I think it is a welcome step forward. I think we need to be very careful and cautious and make sure that everybody understands the implications and the risks that might be attached,” she said.

Ms Ahmed added that the biggest issue would be staff shortages, as testing and cleaning is necessary for the visits to go ahead.

“We have staff who are exhausted, we’ve got staff who are going down with Covid and also getting long Covid,” she said.

Indoor visits to care homes will be allowed from 8 March as part of the gradual lifting of the third national lockdown.

Under the current restrictions, only outdoor visits and interactions behind screens are permitted.

From early next month, visitors will be able to see their relatives face-to-face as long as the former test negative for coronavirus and wear PPE.

The news comes ahead of a speech from the prime minister on Monday detailing the country’s route out of lockdown.

Here’s an explainer from Sam Hancock on what Boris Johnson could announce next week:

Good morning, and welcome to The Independent’s rolling coronavirus coverage.