PM: Pupils should go back to school
BORIS Johnson has said parents should send primary-age children back to schools that are open this week, as he hinted at tougher coronavirus measures for England.
The Prime Minister said he has “no doubt” that classrooms are safe and that the risk to young people was “very, very small” amid calls from teaching unions to close all schools for the next two weeks.
Referring to the tiers system, Mr Johnson said that coronavirus restrictions in England are “probably about to get tougher” due to rising infection rates.
Appearing on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show yesterday morning, the Prime Minister said: “Schools are safe. It is very, very important to stress that. I would advise all parents thinking about want to do, look at where your area is, overwhelmingly you’ll be in a part of the country where primary schools tomorrow will be open.”
Meanwhile, Mr Johnson signalled that despite vaccines “coming down the track in their tens of millions”, regional restrictions in England were likely to get tougher.
“What we are doing now is using the tiering system, which is a very tough system... and, alas, probably about to get tougher to keep things under control,” he said. It comes as the NHS ramps up its vaccination programme with the newly approved Oxford University and AstraZeneca jab, with 530,000 doses available for rollout across the UK from today.
Six hospital trusts will be the first to administer the vaccine before the bulk of supplies are sent to hundreds of GP-led services, according to NHS England.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the vaccine was “our great hope”, adding: “I want the Government to throw everything it can at this, harnessing the extraordinary talents of our NHS so we can be vaccinating at least two million Brits a week by the end of the month.” But, writing in the Sunday Mirror, he criticised “a chaotic last-minute U-turn on schools”.
Yesterday afternoon, Sir Keir called for a nationwide lockdown, to begin today.
On Friday, Education Secretary Gavin Williamson confirmed that all of London’s primary schools would remain shut to most students, rather than just those in certain boroughs as set out earlier in the week.
Primary schools in the capital and some surrounding areas are not due to reopen until January 18, but elsewhere students were expected to return to classrooms today.
Asked whether he could guarantee schools will reopen on January 18, Mr Johnson added: “Well, obviously, we’re going to continue to assess the impact of the Tier 4 measures, the Tier 3 measures.”
International Trade Secretary Liz Truss was more confident on the matter.
Pressed on whether the majority of secondary schools would open by January 11 and 18, Ms Truss told Times Radio: “Absolutely. That’s what we are seeking to do.”
The Government said a further 454 people have died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of yesterday, bringing the UK total to 75,024.