Schools: Coronavirus

(asked on 5th January 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government (1) what assessment they have made of whether current guidelines for schools are sufficient to address the spread of (a) the strain of COVID-19 identified in the UK, and (b) the reported “South African” strain of COVID-19; (2) who has conducted and is conducting any such assessment; (3) whether they plan to provide any new safety measures to schools to address any such new strains of COVID-19; and (4) if so, when they plan to do so.


Answered by
Baroness Berridge Portrait
Baroness Berridge
This question was answered on 19th January 2021

The department has worked closely with Public Health England to develop a system of controls to reduce the risk of transmission in schools. When implemented in line with a revised risk assessment, these measures create an inherently safer environment for children and staff where the risk of transmission of infection is substantially reduced. The system of controls is reviewed continually in light of new evidence – including evidence about new variants.

There is no evidence the new variant of the virus ‘VUI – 202012/01’, identified in the UK, causes more serious illness in either children or adults and there continues to be strong evidence to date that children and younger people (under 18 years) are much less susceptible to severe clinical disease than older people.

There is no current evidence that it may be particularly dangerous to clinically extremely vulnerable children.

We will continue to work closely with Public Health England and others to update our guidance based on the latest medical and scientific advice.

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