‘Make virus tests must for students’

LONDON: Covid-19 tests should be compulsory for all university students and staff to prevent outbreaks on campuses and protect communities, according to an independent group of scientists, foreign media reported.

Testing should be carried out either before or as soon as people arrive on campus, with further tests conducted regularly, said the Independent Sage committee.

The recommendation comes in a report published on Friday that advises universities to provide online learning as the default rather than in-person teaching, noting the latter carried “the most risk of transmission” of coronavirus.

The scientists also advised that freshers’ week events, which usually revolve around parties and drinking, should be held online. Socialising should be restricted to students’ residential bubbles, they added.

Where in-person teaching is necessary, students and staff should wear face coverings and practise physical distancing in classrooms, the expert group advised. It said students should be asked to sign a social behaviour agreement, with breaches possibly leading to disciplinary action.

The recommendation ahead of universities returning in the autumn comes as Manchester, which has the fourth-largest student population in the UK, remains in local lockdown owing to a recent significant rise in the number of COVID-19 cases, and fears that Birmingham, which has the eighth largest, could soon have one imposed.

Stephen Reicher, a behavioural science expert on the Independent Sage committee, said in a city such as London the proportion of students in the population did not pose a significant risk to local infection rates, but that this was not the case in smaller university towns.

“Somewhere like St Andrews, where there are as many students as local people, the last thing we want to happen is a spike in infections,” added Reicher, a professor of social psychology at St Andrews.

The report also recommended that universities should provide accommodation where students can safely quarantine, and have food and online lessons provided. It said halls of residence were likely to be a main source of transmission of COVID-19 and recommended temperature checks on entering buildings.