Boris urged to boost testing to safely reopen schools

LONDON: Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been urged to boost coronavirus testing and tracing in order to safely reopen schools to all pupils without needing to impose further restrictions on businesses or social lives.

Johnson said it is the “national priority” to get children back in class in England next month, but he has been warned by scientific advisers that “trade-offs” may be necessary to keep transmission down.

Johnson is understood to favour forcing pubs, restaurants and shops to shut ahead of schools in the event of severe local Covid-19 flare-ups.

But government advisers, opposition politicians, teachers and the children’s commissioner for England Anne Longfield have all called for improvements to testing before pupils return in September. Their calls came as the Prime Minister wrote in the Mail on Sunday that “we have a moral duty” to reopen schools to all pupils after months without in-person education for most children.

He warned of the “spiralling economic costs” of parents and carers being unable to work, adding: “Keeping our schools closed a moment longer than absolutely necessary is socially intolerable, economically unsustainable and morally indefensible.”

The Prime Minister was also keen to stress the potential damage to children’s health if they do not return and that the virus presents only a very low threat of making them seriously ill, amid concerns parents may not feel comfortable sending them back during the pandemic.

Longfield welcomed the commitment to make children the priority after previously accusing ministers of treating them as “an afterthought”. But she said regular testing of pupils and teachers, perhaps as frequently as weekly, could be needed even if they do not exhibit symptoms. Schools minister Nick Gibb did not support the call, saying: “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.”

Professor Sir Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust, who is advising the government’s coronavirus response, said the “brief window” before schools reopen must be “used wisely” otherwise new restrictions will be needed.

Shadow education secretary Kate Green called for greater support from ministers in making schools safe with extra resources and for them to boost the tracing of potential infections.

“I do think the government could be doing more to support them (teachers) particularly, for example, making sure we’ve got a really robust test and trace system in place,” the Labour MP told Times Radio.