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Admission test at the stadium in Tashkent
Photo: Zafar Khalilov / imago images / Xinhua
They didn't get to run, play football or jump up: This Wednesday tens of thousands of young people sat down at a desk in Uzbekistan's sports arenas.
They wrote exams with mouth and nose protection.
It is an extraordinary measure at an extraordinary time.
Because of the corona pandemic, the exams for university admission had to be written in the open air.
A total of 1.4 million applicants are to take part in the exams within the next two weeks.
They all have to take a three-hour test in the arenas to get one of 150,000 places at a college.
Universities will mainly offer online classes in the next semester and schools are scheduled to reopen on September 14th - two weeks later than planned.
Uzbekistan has just completed its second national lockdown.
There are more than 42,000 Covid-19 cases in the country, and 324 people have died in the virus.
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kha / Reuters