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This new lockdown demonstrates the threat of the new COVID strain that is spreading across the UK and the urgency of maintaining COVID restrictions throughout this winter. It also moves UK schools back online and affects the exams that Gen Z students plan to take this summer.

A new lockdown has begun in the UK until "at least through the middle of February." While this one is similar to the lockdown in spring 2020 - when the COVID-19 pandemic first emerged - a few more things are open: elite sports, religious venues, and childcare facilities will be allowed with spacing. Essential businesses remain open, while travel out of the country is now only permitted for certain circumstances. The Prime Minister added that the government is already creating alternatives to the GCSE and A-level exams scheduled for this summer.

This lockdown comes after cases and hospitalizations spiked to a point even higher than last April's levels, and officials worry about availability in hospitals. There is also a new, "more transmissible variant of Covid-19" that is part of the reason for the increase in restrictive measures. Even with the emergence of the vaccines, it will take time before everyone who needs one will get one, so additional precautions are necessary.

- Hamsini Sivakumar

Source: CNN