(24 Jan 2021) LEAD IN:
The second half of 2020 saw a rise in cases of coronavirus in the UK as winter approached.
The rollout of COVID-19 vaccines raised hopes for an end to the pandemic.
However, news of new variants pushed the country back into lockdown in 2021.
The UK government says the UK variant may be associated with a higher mortality rate, and that current vaccines may be less effective against the variants which have emerged in South Africa and Brazil.
  
STORY-LINE:
Summer in the city and a trip to London Zoo, which reopened in June, after being closed for 13 weeks because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The London attraction says it's "lost millions of pounds of income" since its doors first closed in March.
The zoo reopened with a reduced capacity to keep in line with social distancing measures, which include new one-way routes around the attractions.
Some people had suffered severe COVID-19 and recovered found they had lasting symptoms, what has become known as 'long COVID'.
Susan Cresswell was discharged from hospital in April, but her full recovery was a work in progress.
In late June, she was still experiencing breathlessness and deep fatigue.
Professor Charlotte Bolton, Respiratory Medicine Professor, University of Nottingham explains some of the long-lasting symptoms of COVID-19, experienced by some patients.  
"Some breathlessness, some cough, fatigue, muscle fatigue and limitation on what they can do, activities of daily living ADLs, but also some report quite vivid dreams, memory loss of the whole admission. What we call higher executive function."
Now doctors and scientists are studying closely whether the virus could have unexpected longer-term implications for both patients and health services.
In 2020, Britain found a new hero in the form of a centenarian and World War II hero.
Captain Tom Moore was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in July, after he raised more than $40 million for Britain's National Health Service Charities Together by walking 100 laps of his garden to assist with his rehabilitation following a hip operation.
Moore, who turned 100 in April, inspired many more fundraising efforts and donations from 163 countries.  
Life seems sunnier in the summer, with looser restrictions people enjoyed socialising outdoors in the good weather.
September marked a return to school and a new term at university for some students.
But hundreds of students across the UK who contracted coronavirus or were close contacts of students who were infected had to self-isolate just as they were getting ready to embark on the new year of studies.
As winter approached, the number of infections began to rise again and in October varying levels of lockdown, known as tiers, were imposed across England.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson repeated the mantra of the year. "Stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives."
On October 31, Johnson announced that England would enter a month-long lockdown after being warned tough action was needed to stop a resurgent coronavirus outbreak.
Unlike the UK's first lockdown, schools, universities, and manufacturing businesses would stay open.
In Liverpool, a pilot scheme for mass coronavirus testing began.
The pilot, named "Operation Moonshot" encouraged everyone who lives or works in the city to get tested, even if they do not have symptoms.
With Christmas approaching, there was good news.
In December, a new mRNA jab from Pfizer BioNTech, which doesn't use live or weakened viruses, was approved in the UK, and within a week it is licensed and deployed.

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