UNI LOCKS DOWN HALLS IN COVID OUTBREAK
1,700 STUDENTS MUST SELF-ISOLATE AS MMU HIT BY SCORES OF CASES
A STRING of Manchester student blocks were locked down last night after more than 100 Covid cases were recorded.
Halls at Manchester Metropolitan University’s Birley campus, as well as Cambridge Hall near All Saint’s Park, were locked down for a fortnight and 1,700 students living there told to selfisolate ‘with immediate effect’.
The M.E.N. reported last weekend that a number of students were already self-isolating at the Birley campus, in Hulme, days after a 100-strong party was reported in the courtyard.
Since then, case numbers have soared to 127 across that site and Cambridge Halls, with a number of other students also recording symptoms. As a result the council, university and Public Health England have jointly agreed to introduce lockdown measures.
David Regan, Public Health Director for Manchester, said: “An important part of Manchester’s local response and prevention plan for coronavirus is to keep a close eye on the data and act swiftly and decisively where an outbreak is identified in order to contain the virus. That’s what we’ve done here.”
The council said a ‘range of support measures’ had been put in place for the students in question. Only blocks at MMU’s Birley campus and blocks at Cambridge halls are affected.
Coun Bev Craig, executive member for adult health and wellbeing for Manchester council, said: “Students are a vital part of our city, and as part of our plans we expected that numbers could rise as they returned to the city.
“As a vital part of our city, they are also under the same restrictions and rules as our longer term residents, and that’s why this evidence-based approach is being taken early to reduce the spread.
“We understand that local residents may be concerned about this situation. We want to reassure them that the evidence so far suggests that transmission has been within the student community only and has not been more widespread. We are taking this collective action to ensure that remains the case.”
University and College Union general secretary Jo Grady said: “This is the latest catastrophe in a week where wholly predictable - and predicted - Covid outbreaks have caused havoc on campuses across the UK.
“We warned last month of the problems with moving thousands of students across the country and the time has come for urgent action from ministers and universities to protect staff and students.”
The move follows growing concerns about how universities are going to operate safely against the backdrop of high and rising Covid infection rates.
It is understood the student outbreaks have helped to fuel the city’s infection rate as a whole over the past couple of days. On Tuesday, the city recorded 161 new cases, with numbers now doubling week on week.
Manchester council’s public health department has been particularly worried about the return of nearly 80,000 students in recent weeks at a time when the city’s Covid infection rate is already high and now rising fast, numbers driven predominantly by those aged 20 to 40.
Across Greater Manchester, all five universities - MMU, Manchester University, Salford University, Bolton University and the Royal Northern College of Music - issued a joint statement earlier this month outlining how they would deal with the new term against the backdrop of Covid, including online lectures, free masks and staggered arrivals at halls.