The medical director of Public Health England (PHE) has moved to reassure parents as pupils return to classrooms after the summer holiday.
Dr Yvonne Doyle said that schools are not the “drivers” or “hubs” of Covid-19 infection in communities.
“We understand, and I understand fully, that parents may be nervous but I would stress again that schools are not the drivers and not the hubs of infection,” the doctor said in an interview with BBC Breakfast.
She added that “we attribute at least some of that (school-related figures) to the testing regime”.
When asked about concerns from teacher’s groups that more measures should be in place to stop the spread of coronavirus, Dr Doyle said: “There are a lot of regimes in place already which we think are the right regimes.”
“There’ll be extra cleaning and hygiene, advice on ventilation (and) the testing is extremely important,” she added.
Dr Yvonne Doyle said authorities had anticipated Covid-19 outbreaks as schools reopened.
“Outbreaks are part of normal practice,” she told BBC Breakfast.
“There’s a tried and tested way of addressing them. All the time we will try to minimise the disruption for both school, but also for the home life.
“Obviously it’s the balance between safety and disruption, and that’s just normal business and we’ll be dealing with that.”
The medical director of Public Health England added that any “hidden late-summer viruses” would be detected with rigorous testing.
“So what we’re asking children (and) young people to do is to take two tests on site, in person, in their first week and to take two tests each week until the end of September. That will pick up any hidden late-summer viruses,” she said.
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