The education secretary for England is urging schools to carry on as normal, proceed with Christmas plays and keep children in school, despite the arrival of the Omicron variant – The Times reports.
Testing has begun already in two schools for the new strain, but education secretary Nadhim Zahawi said he would not support the return of learning bubbles or closures yet. He told ITV’s This Morning: “The best place for children to be is in a classroom, learning.”
Asked if closing schools was the “last possible option”, he said: “Absolutely.”
Zahawi added: “Keep schools open: do all the things necessary, like facemasks in communal areas, to protect education in the classroom. Masks are not a panacea . . . these are all interventions that just help you stop the virus from accelerating too quickly.”
Mr Zahawi said his “strong advice” was for nativity plays to go ahead.
The minister’s call to carry on as normal comes less than a year after a number of local authorities were threatened with legal action when they tried to close amid last winter’s pre-Christmas Covid surge. After forcing schools to stay open, ministers caused consternation when they promptly called for them to closed at the last minute in January.
Larchwood Primary School, in Pilgrims Hatch, Essex, is one of two schools where additional testing for the new Omicron variant is being carried out. A year 6 class has been sent home to learn remotely for a week.