With daily COVID-19 infections surging as a result of a new virus variant, the British government faced mounting pressure on Saturday from teachers’ unions to keep schools in England closed for at least another two weeks.
The government, which oversees schools in England, has already decided to keep all schools in London closed next week to try to stem new infections.
Unions want the policy extended across the whole of England, expressing fears about the health of teachers and children.
Photo: AFP
The UK on Saturday hit a daily record for new coronavirus infections — 57,725 — and looked set to soon overtake Italy once again to become the worst-hit country in Europe with nearly 75,000 COVID-19 deaths. The fear is that with rising infections, the number of deaths will also grow over the coming weeks.
The UK has recorded its five highest daily new infection numbers over the past five days — all above 50,000 and double the number of only a few weeks ago.
After an emergency meeting on Saturday, the National Education Union, which represents more than 450,000 education workers, called on British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative government to move learning online for at least two weeks.
It also told members that they have a legal right not to have to work in an “unsafe environment” of accelerating coronavirus cases, hospital admissions and deaths.
“We are doing our job as a union by informing our members that they have a legal right to refuse to work in unsafe conditions which are a danger to their health and to the health of their school communities,” union joint general secretary Kevin Courtney said.
Another union representing teachers, the NASUWT, also called for an immediate nationwide move to remote education due to virus safety concerns.
NASUWT general secretary Patrick Roach said there is “genuine concern” that schools and colleges are not able to reopen safely at this time.
“The NASUWT will not hesitate to take appropriate action in order to protect members whose safety is put at risk as a result of the failure of employers or the government to ensure safe working conditions in schools and colleges,” he said.
The government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies at a Dec. 22 meeting said that schools needed to stay closed to bring down virus transmission rates.
The UK is struggling with a sharp spike in new cases as a result of a new virus variant that officials said could be up to 70 percent more infectious.
The variant has been particularly prevalent in London and in surrounding areas, prompting British Secretary of State for Education Gavin Williamson to row back on plans to allow some primary schools — those for children 11 and under — in the capital to reopen as scheduled today.
Most other primary schools in England are still scheduled to open today.
High school reopenings have already been delayed for millions of students, with exam-year pupils scheduled to return on Monday next week and others a week later.
With many British hospitals at or near capacity, there are growing concerns over how the already stretched British National Health Service will cope with an expected rise in people seeking treatment after getting infected over the holidays.
Field hospitals are getting outfitted again to take in patients.
On the inoculations front, the UK on Dec. 8 began vaccinating people over 80 and healthcare workers with the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.
Last week, the government approved another vaccine made by Oxford University and pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca that is cheaper and easier to use.
The UK plans to ramp up vaccinations today using 530,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine and has set a goal of vaccinating 2 million people a week as soon as possible.
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