Possible Daily Testing for Schools as Ministers set to end automatic isolation for pupils in England3 Jul 2021 16:14
An announcement is expected to be made in coming days to give schools time to prepare for the return in September, likely to be replaced with a testing regime.
The schools minister, Nick Gibb, confirmed on Tuesday morning that the government was conducting trials of daily testing in secondary schools which were due to be completed on Wednesday. This regime would enable schoolchildren to go into school provided they receive a negative result, eliminating the need for the entire classroom to self-isolate when a single child contracts the virus.
Jason McCartney, the Tory MP for Colne Valley, said children and families were being forced to isolate up to four times in a matter of months. He said it was “having a huge impact on education, mental health and wellbeing” and called for extra PCR testing and a new approach to the policy.
Areas in northern England have been particularly affected by the rise in children isolating, with government figures showing one in 30 children in state schools were out of the classroom on 17 June. That included 9,000 pupils with confirmed Covid and 16,000 with suspected coronavirus, and more than 7,000 whose schools had shut because of outbreaks.
Javid revealed he had asked for “fresh advice” on the issue, and that the current rules had been decided based on “the data that was available at the time”, adding: “Clearly data is changing all the time and we must make sure that we keep that under review.”
He signalled he was keen to implement the pilot in place in some local authorities, under which people are tested daily instead of needing to isolate. But he stopped short of promising Tory MPs that all restrictions would be removed next month.
Mark Harper, the chair of the Covid Recovery Group, said he had been told some government figures were “preparing the ground for the return of restrictions in the autumn and winter” and urged Javid to rule out further lockdowns later in the year, but the health secretary only said he intended to “remove all restrictions as quickly as possible”.
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