Government resists calls to shut schools under new lockdown

The government intends to keep schools open despite increasing calls from leaders in some of the areas hardest-hit by coronavirus for them to close during the latest lockdown.

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotherham said that education institutions should close to reduce the spread of the virus more quickly, adding their voices to that of the National Education Union, which believes that if schools and colleges stay open, the restrictions will be less effective.

Joint general secretary Kevin Courtney said the lockdown was 'another half measure and, without school closures as part of it, it is unlikely to have the effect that the prime minister wants'.

Scientists have also warned coronavirus is spreading fast in secondary schools. New figures from the Office for National Statistics show that infection rates among secondary school children 'appear to be steeply increasing'. An estimated two per cent of children in Year 7 to Year 11 tested positive for the virus in the most recent week of testing, the highest positivity rate of any age group except sixth-formers and young adults.

However, speaking to the BBC's Andrew Marr Show, Cabinet Minister Michael Gove said that the government was taking the necessary measures to keep schools open. He rejected the suggestion that it would mean a longer period of lockdown because schools staying open would contribute to the continued transmission of coronavirus.

Speaking at a joint press conference, the Mayors of Manchester and Liverpool that they wanted to see a period of two weeks' closure towards the second half of November, giving schools some time to prepare online learning. Without this, the mayors said they feared their regions would simply be back in the restrictive tier three measures.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, however, has said he supports keeping schools open, but said 'we've got to manage the risk'.