Europe COVID hospitalisations rise as workforce is stretched
Secondary school pupils in England will have to wear face masks in class again after the Christmas holidays because of Covid-19, ministers have ruled.
Nadhim Zahawi, the education secretary, wrote in The Sunday Telegraph: “There can be no excuse for our children not learning face to face in the classroom where they want and need to be.”
The rules will run until 26 January. Masks were already recommended in communal areas for older students and staff.
The announcement came as England notched a record one-day coronavirus infection tally of 162,572. A further 154 people died in England within 28 days of testing positive.
Meanwhile, the government is drawing up plans to counter a massive wave of worker sickness, with scenarios including one-quarter of staff being absent.
Boris Johnson demanded ministers prepare “robust” contingency options, even as the Cabinet Office claimed that, so far, disruption caused by Omicron has been controlled in “most parts of the public sector”.
