ANKARA

China has suspended the entry of UK and Philippines visa-holders and residents due to recent surges in cases of the novel coronavirus. 

The nationals of either country will also be subject to the temporary entry ban, the Chinese daily Global Times reported.

Britain's National Health Service has declared its highest alert level starting midnight, due to a "serious situation ahead."

The UK has reported 47,250 deaths and over 1 million coronavirus cases, while the Philippines has reported 388,137 infections, 7,367 of which resulted in deaths.

Meanwhile, China has also approved its first two COVID-19 antigen detection kits, which can shorten testing time to 20 minutes.

China on Thursday reported eight locally transmitted coronavirus cases, as well as 20 imported. All the local cases were reported from the northwestern Xinjiang region.

There are 86,115 confirmed cases in the country, including 4,634 deaths in China.