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Britain’s health secretary has resigned after a tabloid splashed photos and videos of him kissing an aide in his office — breaking the same coronavirus social distancing rules he imposed on the nation. While Matt Hancock was swiftly replaced, the scandal was another blow to Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Conservative government, which has repeatedly come under criticism for incompetence and hypocrisy in its handling of the pandemic over the past year. (Hui, 6/28)

Sajid Javid’s return to Boris Johnson’s top team as health secretary seals a speedy comeback for one of the political heavyweights of the Conservative Party, a one-time managing director at Deutsche Bank AG who is expected to push for a timely end to Britain’s coronavirus restrictions. Replacing Matt Hancock following his dramatic resignation over the weekend, Javid is more likely to support easing coronavirus rules than his predecessor, according to former Javid aide Salma Shah, speaking on BBC TV on Sunday. (Mayes, 6/28)

The pharmaceutical industry has developed a “hidden web of policy influence” over members of the U.K. parliament through payments that run the risk of creating of “institutional corruption,” according to a new analysis. Specifically, researchers focused on All-Party Parliamentary Groups, which are informal clusters of lawmakers that focus on particular issues and seek to influence government through meetings and reports (read more here). However, APPGs do not receive government funding, so the findings raise questions about the extent to which these groups act independently. (Silverman, 6/25)

A new study projects more than 2 million adults in England likely experienced persistent symptoms in the months following COVID-19 infection, or so-called long COVID. Researchers affiliated with Imperial College London released findings Thursday, stemming from over half a million people in England who participated in several rounds of the Real-Time Assessment of Community Transmission-2 (REACT-2) study, which invited random samples of adults to take surveys from September to February. "Long COVID, describing the long-term sequelae after SARS-CoV-2 infection, remains a poorly defined syndrome. There is uncertainty about its predisposing factors and the extent of the resultant public health burden, with estimates of prevalence and duration varying widely," authors prefaced. (Rivas, 6/26)

The Toronto Raptors were the only team in the National Basketball Association not to play in its home arena this season due to Covid-19 restrictions. On Sunday, they handed over the venue to health authorities to smash Canada’s record for most vaccinations at a single site in a day. The clinic at the Scotiabank Arena administered 26,771 doses of Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc. vaccines, according to a statement on Twitter from the facility’s owner, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd. (Decloet, 6/27)

In yet another twist in a complicated tale, Health Canada has reinstated approval of a rare disease drug after the manufacturer of a rival medicine claimed the regulator had originally issued an “incorrect and unreasonable” endorsement. The move came after Canada’s Federal Court earlier this month quashed the approval for Ruzurgi, which is used to treat people with a rare neuromuscular disorder called Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome, or LEMS. The medicine is marketed by Jacobus Pharmaceuticals, a small, family run company, although a competitor, Catalyst Pharmaceuticals (CPRX), has sought to push back the approval until 2028. (Silverman, 6/26)