diff --git a/.azure-pipelines/build-docker-sonic-vs-template.yml b/.azure-pipelines/build-docker-sonic-vs-template.yml
index 163230a66..16042c74f 100644
--- a/.azure-pipelines/build-docker-sonic-vs-template.yml
+++ b/.azure-pipelines/build-docker-sonic-vs-template.yml
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ jobs:
       path: $(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)/download
       runVersion: 'latestFromBranch'
       runBranch: 'refs/heads/$(BUILD_BRANCH)'
+      allowPartiallySucceededBuilds: true
     displayName: "Download sonic swss common deb packages"
   - task: DownloadPipelineArtifact@2
     inputs:
diff --git a/.azure-pipelines/build-swss-template.yml b/.azure-pipelines/build-swss-template.yml
index 96c4c9fe3..a6ebb68cc 100644
--- a/.azure-pipelines/build-swss-template.yml
+++ b/.azure-pipelines/build-swss-template.yml
@@ -58,6 +58,8 @@ jobs:
       git status
     displayName: Set up sonic-swss branch
   - script: |
+      set -ex
+      sudo apt-get update
       sudo apt-get install -y libhiredis0.14 libhiredis-dev
       sudo apt-get install -y libzmq5 libzmq3-dev
       sudo apt-get install -qq -y \
@@ -76,6 +78,7 @@ jobs:
       artifact: ${{ parameters.swss_common_artifact_name }}
       runVersion: 'latestFromBranch'
       runBranch: 'refs/heads/$(BUILD_BRANCH)'
+      allowPartiallySucceededBuilds: true
       path: $(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)/download
       patterns: |
         libswsscommon_1.0.0_*.deb
diff --git a/.azure-pipelines/build-template.yml b/.azure-pipelines/build-template.yml
index c6b6fbaa9..8a7eb9b04 100644
--- a/.azure-pipelines/build-template.yml
+++ b/.azure-pipelines/build-template.yml
@@ -62,6 +62,8 @@ jobs:
     clean: true
     submodules: true
   - script: |
+      set -ex
+      sudo apt-get update
       sudo apt-get install -qq -y \
         qtbase5-dev \
         libdbus-glib-1-2 \
@@ -101,6 +103,7 @@ jobs:
       artifact: ${{ parameters.swss_common_artifact_name }}
       runVersion: 'latestFromBranch'
       runBranch: 'refs/heads/$(BUILD_BRANCH)'
+      allowPartiallySucceededBuilds: true
       path: $(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)/download
     displayName: "Download sonic swss common deb packages"
   - script: |
@@ -124,14 +127,14 @@ jobs:
   - ${{ if eq(parameters.run_unit_test, true) }}:
     - script: |
         set -ex
-        git clone https://github.com/Spacetown/gcovr.git
+        git clone https://github.com/gcovr/gcovr.git
         cd gcovr/
-        git checkout origin/recursive_search_file
+        git checkout 5.2
         sudo pip3 install setuptools
         sudo python3 setup.py install
         cd ..
         sudo rm -rf gcovr
-      displayName: "Install gcovr 5.0 with recursive fix"
+      displayName: "Install gcovr 5.2 (for --exclude-throw-branches support)"
     - script: |
         set -ex
         make check
diff --git a/.azure-pipelines/build_and_install_module.sh b/.azure-pipelines/build_and_install_module.sh
index 493a2f04e..35c519634 100755
--- a/.azure-pipelines/build_and_install_module.sh
+++ b/.azure-pipelines/build_and_install_module.sh
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ function build_and_install_kmodule()
     SUBLEVEL=$(echo $KERNEL_MAINVERSION | cut -d. -f3)
 
     # Install the required debian packages to build the kernel modules
+    apt-get update
     apt-get install -y build-essential linux-headers-${KERNEL_RELEASE} autoconf pkg-config fakeroot
     apt-get install -y flex bison libssl-dev libelf-dev
     apt-get install -y libnl-route-3-200 libnl-route-3-dev libnl-cli-3-200 libnl-cli-3-dev libnl-3-dev
diff --git a/.azure-pipelines/docker-sonic-vs/Dockerfile b/.azure-pipelines/docker-sonic-vs/Dockerfile
index 174fc9285..de02bdefc 100644
--- a/.azure-pipelines/docker-sonic-vs/Dockerfile
+++ b/.azure-pipelines/docker-sonic-vs/Dockerfile
@@ -4,14 +4,7 @@ ARG docker_container_name
 
 ADD ["debs", "/debs"]
 
-RUN dpkg --purge python-swsscommon
-RUN dpkg --purge python3-swsscommon
-RUN dpkg --purge swss
-RUN dpkg --purge libsairedis
-RUN dpkg --purge libswsscommon
-RUN dpkg --purge libsaimetadata
-RUN dpkg --purge libsaivs
-RUN dpkg --purge syncd-vs
+RUN dpkg --purge python-swsscommon python3-swsscommon swss libsairedis sonic-db-cli libswsscommon libsaimetadata libsaivs syncd-vs
 
 RUN dpkg -i /debs/libswsscommon_1.0.0_amd64.deb
 RUN dpkg -i /debs/python-swsscommon_1.0.0_amd64.deb
diff --git a/.azure-pipelines/test-docker-sonic-vs-template.yml b/.azure-pipelines/test-docker-sonic-vs-template.yml
index 1447c34e5..8e426374f 100644
--- a/.azure-pipelines/test-docker-sonic-vs-template.yml
+++ b/.azure-pipelines/test-docker-sonic-vs-template.yml
@@ -42,12 +42,14 @@ jobs:
       path: $(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)/download
       runVersion: 'latestFromBranch'
       runBranch: 'refs/heads/$(BUILD_BRANCH)'
+      allowPartiallySucceededBuilds: true
     displayName: "Download sonic swss common deb packages"
 
   - script: |
       set -ex
       sudo sonic-sairedis/.azure-pipelines/build_and_install_module.sh
 
+      sudo apt-get update
       sudo apt-get install -y libhiredis0.14
       sudo dpkg -i --force-confask,confnew $(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)/download/libswsscommon_1.0.0_amd64.deb || apt-get install -f
       sudo dpkg -i $(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)/download/python3-swsscommon_1.0.0_amd64.deb
@@ -67,6 +69,8 @@ jobs:
       sudo py.test -v --force-flaky --junitxml=tr.xml --imgname=docker-sonic-vs:$(Build.DefinitionName).$(Build.BuildNumber)
       rm -rf $(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)/download
     displayName: "Run vs tests"
+    ${{ if ne(variables['Build.Reason'], 'PullRequest') }}:
+      continueOnError: true
 
   - task: PublishTestResults@2
     inputs: