Boris urged to give teachers and pupils weekly coronavirus tests as schools reopen
Boris Johnson has been urged to improve the nation’s coronavirus test and trace system by the time schools reopen in September.
The Prime Minister has been advised to launch weekly Covid-19 tests for teachers and children, even if they aren’t showing symptoms of the virus. Without this measure, experts fear the reopening of classrooms will cause a series of outbreaks, which could result in a second nationwide lockdown.
There are also concerns over whether the test and trace system is currently effective enough to be relied on, with one former government scientist describing the programme as ‘disastrous’.
Sir David King, who leads the Independent Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, said the nation is currently ‘nowhere near’ ready for schools to reopen, and slammed the test and trace system for giving people ‘one phone call’ telling them to isolate and no further follow-up ensure they are doing so.
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His words came as Johnson described getting children back to school as the government’s ‘moral duty’. The PM is understood to be in favour of closing pubs, shops and restaurants ahead of schools in order to prevent a coronavirus flare-up.
Anne Longfield, Children’s commissioner for England, stated that holding frequent tests of teachers and pupils needed to be a priority in order to ensure the school environment is safe.
She told Times Radio: ‘I think it needs to be as regular as it needs to be, to ensure that the infection is caught and identified as quickly as possible and then the tracking system can move on from that.’
Kate Green, Labour’s shadow education secretary, also told the broadcaster: ‘I do think the government could be doing more to support [teachers], particularly, for example, making sure we’ve got a really robust test and trace system in place.
‘It’s really, really important that we don’t write off a generation of Covid children – they need to be back in class the whole of our futures depend on this.’
Professor Sir Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust, who is advising the Government’s coronavirus response, noted that the ‘brief window’ before schools reopen must be ‘used wisely’, otherwise new restrictions will be needed.
He wrote in the Observer: ‘Most urgently, we need to ramp up testing. We are not where we need to be. We must improve contact tracing, so we’re identifying more cases and providing better, faster data locally.
‘If we don’t, we may not be able to reopen schools without introducing new restrictions elsewhere. These are the trade-offs we face – if we do not act now.’
However, schools minister Nick Gibb did not agree, stating: ‘All the advice we’ve had is the measures that we’re putting in place, the hierarchy of controls about hygiene and so on and bubbles within schools, is the most effective method of reducing the risk of transmission of the virus.’
Over the weekend, Johnson shared how he feared the the differences in home-schooling between the richest and most deprived families could lead to some pupils ‘tumbling out of education, employment or training altogether, never to return’.
Woman with two wombs told she might never have kids welcomes miracle babyWriting in the Mail on Sunday, he said there were also ‘spiralling economic costs’ of parents and carers unable to work with their children not in school.
He noted: ‘Keeping our schools closed a moment longer than absolutely necessary is socially intolerable, economically unsustainable and morally indefensible.’
A Number 10 source said Johnson’s expectation is that schools will be the last sector to close, with firms being shut first in the event of severe local lockdowns.
They added: ‘The PM has been clear that businesses including shops, pubs and restaurants should be forced to close first, with schools remaining open for as long as possible.’
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