Around 250,000 children in England were off school last week for Covid-related reasons, new figures show, The Guardian reports.
This was the highest figure for children missing classes due to infections, self-isolation or entire school closures since reopening in March.
The sharp rise was most obvious in some parts of the north such as Oldham where Covid-related absences in schools were more than double the national rate.
Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, said that self-isolation rules for children needed to be reformed to avoid further disruption to their education.
The national figures from the Department for Education (DfE) showed that one child in every 30 at state school was out of the classroom on 17 June.
Burnham called for a “more proportionate” handling of self-isolation: “Obviously if people are testing positive, then that is an issue that needs to be dealt with. But when it comes to the contacts of those kids, then maybe there are other arrangements that can be looked at.”
Under regulations, classmates of anyone testing positive must self-isolate for 10 days and cannot leave their homes even for exercise – even if they have not tested positive themselves.
Gerard Jones, managing director of children and young people for Oldham council, backed daily testing for children rather than self-isolation.