The move came amidst concerns over the fact that more than 640,000 children in England were absent from school last week due to coronavirus.
IANS photo
The COVID-19 school restrictions in UK are set to be lifted from July 19, Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said.
For the uninitiated, the “bubbles” refers to groups of young students who have their lesson together. However, if one of their ‘bubble’ classmates tested positive, the entire group was sent home to isolate.
With the current system being cancelled, a student will now be contacted by Britain’s test and trace system, if he/she was in contact with someone with COVID-19, to take a coronavirus test. If a negative coronavirus report comes, he/she will be allowed to attend class.
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The move came amidst concerns over the fact that more than 640,000 children in England were absent from school last week due to coronavirus.
“The vaccine program is ensuring we can take these important steps back to normality and both adults and most importantly children can get back on with their lives,” Williamson said.
Williamson said the move did not mean the end of the pandemic, but a new phase of managing Covid-19.
Just after the announcement was made, the National Education Union (NEU) accused the UK government of pursuing a herd immunity policy on children in particular.
“It seems clear that the government policies are based on a new form of herd immunity strategy. They are hoping that the increase in vaccination rates and the increase in infection rates across the summer will eventually get cases to fall simply because there is no one left to infect,” evin Courtney, NEU joint general secretary, said.
Earlier, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has confirmed that the remaining COVID-19 restrictions are set to end July 19 as Britain hopes to finally step out of lockdown.
(With IANS inputs)
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