British Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered a nationwide lockdown Monday as the U.K. saw a record 59,000 daily coronavirus infections. It’s the third such order since the start of the pandemic. The lockdown requires most people to remain at home — except on urgent business — until mid-February, with schools and nonessential businesses closed. British officials are blaming the U.K.’s record surge on a new coronavirus variant they say is up to 70% more transmissible, but some public health experts say ineffective public health measures are at least partly to blame.
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