UK coronavirus live: education secretary says Covid-19 unlikely to spread in classrooms | The Guardian

Gavin Williamson says plans for school reopening guided by evidence of little transmission Global coronavirus live: latest updates 7.41am BST Meanwhile, care minister Helen Whateley is on Sky, Radio 4 and others this morning promoting the government’s £172m plan to fund 2,000 new nursing apprenticeships annually for the next four years.The pledge reflects the government’s election promise to have “50,000 more nurses” by the end of this parliament. (You might remember some controversy over that claim after Boris Johnson admitted that only 31,000 of the total would actually be new nurses, with much of the rest being accounted for by people who the government thought would have otherwise left the profession.) 7.24am BST Good morning, and welcome to the UK coronavirus live blog. I’m Archie Bland, at the helm for the next few hours. You can reach me at archie.bland@theguardian.com or on Twitter.We begin with education secretary Gavin Williamson, who has said that the government’s plan to accelerate school reopening has been guided by advice that coronavirus is unlikely to spread in the classroom.However, there are concerns from unions that there is no “plan B” for schools if cases do start rising rapidly. Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, told the Telegraph that part-time teaching such as “week-on, week-off” rotas could be needed in some instances.“I’m not an expert in testing, but I would say that regular means weekly. It needs to be as regular as it needs to be to ensure the infection is caught and identified as soon as possible, and then the tracking system can move on from that.” Continue reading…

Gavin Williamson says plans for school reopening guided by evidence of little transmission

• Global coronavirus live: latest updates

7.41am BST

Meanwhile, care minister Helen Whateley is on Sky, Radio 4 and others this morning promoting the government’s £172m plan to fund 2,000 new nursing apprenticeships annually for the next four years.

The pledge reflects the government’s election promise to have “50,000 more nurses” by the end of this parliament. (You might remember some controversy over that claim after Boris Johnson admitted that only 31,000 of the total would actually be new nurses, with much of the rest being accounted for by people who the government thought would have otherwise left the profession.)

7.24am BST

Good morning, and welcome to the UK coronavirus live blog. I’m Archie Bland, at the helm for the next few hours. You can reach me at archie.bland@theguardian.com or on Twitter.

We begin with education secretary Gavin Williamson, who has said that the government’s plan to accelerate school reopening has been guided by advice that coronavirus is unlikely to spread in the classroom.

However, there are concerns from unions that there is no “plan B” for schools if cases do start rising rapidly. Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, told the Telegraph that part-time teaching such as “week-on, week-off” rotas could be needed in some instances.

“I’m not an expert in testing, but I would say that regular means weekly. It needs to be as regular as it needs to be to ensure the infection is caught and identified as soon as possible, and then the tracking system can move on from that.”

Continue reading…