Closing schools is a "bad idea" as children are showing "the lowest increases of any age group," an expert has said.
Tim Spector OBE, lead scientist on the ZOE Covid Symptom Study app, hit out at school closures and said they would "unlikely have a major impact on new cases, but will have long term consequences on children."
His comments came after an announcement that primary schools will be closed to all but key workers' and vulnerable children in 50 council areas until up to January 18 - including two-thirds of London.
And most secondary school pupils across the nation will now go back two weeks later than planned in a major U-turn announced by Education Secretary Gavin Williamson yesterday.
But findings from the ZOE Covid Symptom Study UK Infection Survey this week suggest cases in the under 18s remain fairly low and have not risen recently.
Cases are still rising rapidly in the 20-49 year old age groups and cases in the over 60s are rising slowly, the app says.
Tim Spector OBE, lead scientist on the ZOE Covid Symptom Study app and Professor of Genetic Epidemiology at King’s College London, comments on the latest data: "We still have a tough month ahead in Wales, and the South of England.
"However, cases are slowing down in Wales which suggests they will plateau in about a week and then hopefully start to fall.
"London will likely continue to get worse for another two weeks.
"Across the rest of the UK it doesn't look too bad.
"With talk of tightening restrictions and school closures, we should remember that currently children are showing the lowest increases of any age group, so closing schools is a bad idea and will unlikely have a major impact on new cases, but will have long term consequences on children.
"So while there is still a lot of virus around, with yesterday’s announcement about the Oxford AZ vaccine there is light at the end of the tunnel as we head into 2021."
While the number of children with symptomatic cases remain fairly low, according to the app, it is not known how many kids might be silently spreading Covid in schools.
Numerous studies have found that children are much less likely to be badly affected by the virus, while many could be asymptomatic but still able to transmit the bug to older family members.
A September study of nearly 200 young people in the US even found children can carry larger amounts of the virus than adults, despite having no or few symptoms.
Key findings from the ZOE Covid Symptom Study UK Infection Survey this week show there are currently 55,226 daily new symptomatic cases of coronavirus in the UK on average over the two weeks up to 26 December, excluding care homes.
This compares to 38,719 daily new symptomatic cases last week.
The UK R value is 1.2, according to the app, with regional values showing England at 1.2, Wales at 1.1, and Scotland at 1.2.
In England, daily new cases continue to rise but the numbers are being driven by big increases in London, the South East and East of England.
In Wales the R value has come down from 1.3 to 1.1 showing that the rise in the number of daily new cases has started to slow down.
In London cases continue to climb with an R value of 1.3 but the picture across the capital remains divided although all areas are still increasing.
Redbridge, Havering and Barking and Dagenham are the worst affected areas and Richmond upon Thames, Ealing and Kingston upon Thames are the least, the app says.
The ZOE Covid Symptom Study UK Infection Survey figures are based on around one million weekly reporters and the proportion of newly symptomatic users who have positive swab tests.
The latest survey figures were based on data from 17,850 swab tests done between 12 to 26 December 2020.
