PM ‘It’s back to school – but tough measures ahead’
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 what 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.
Following the comments, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer urged the Prime Minister to bring in new national restrictions within the next 24 hours, calling the virus “out of control”.
“Let’s not have the Prime Minister saying ‘I’m going to do it, but not yet’, that’s the problem he has made so many times,” Sir Keir told reporters.
“Nationwide lockdown – the Prime Minister has hinted that that’s going to happen but he’s delaying again. And we can’t afford that again.”
The Labour leader also said it was “inevitable” that more schools would need to close.
A further 454 people have died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of yesterday, while there were another 54,990 lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK, according to the Government.
It comes as the NHS ramps up its vaccination programme with the newly approved Oxford University and AstraZeneca jab.
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 are expected to return to classrooms today.