Almost 600 miss school because of Covid

Hundreds of Tayside children were in isolation on Tuesday because of coronavirus as local schools recorded new cases.

The Scottish Government released new data which revealed the number of pupils affected by the virus in Angus, Dundee and Perth and Kinross.

The figures include children who missed school for any coronavirus-related reason, including those who have tested positive or are in isolation.

Across the four local authority areas, 592 children missed school on March 30 for Covid19 related reasons.

That includes 375 children in Perth and Kinross, 168 in Dundee and 49 in Angus. Pupils were isolating in the majority of cases.

Figures were not provided for Fife as schools closed on Friday for the Easter break.

The data comes as Perth and Kinross Council confirms hundreds of pupils and their teachers are selfisolating following a number of virus outbreaks.

The region has 226 pupils and 12 staff members isolating as a result of cases which were detected between March 24-30.

An outbreak was confirmed at Oakbank Primary, in Perth, which has led to 60 pupils and five staff members isolating after four children contracted the virus.

Elsewhere, 44 pupils at Our Lady’s Primary and 40 pupils and five staff at Coupar Angus are isolating following a series of cases.

A spokeswoman said: “We take the safety of our children and young people extremely seriously and have robust risk assessments in place to reduce the risk of transmission of coronavirus.

“We have an established process in place.”