Good morning. Hundreds of thousands of pupils will no longer have to automatically isolate after contact with a positive Covid case when schools return in September in England, my colleagues Aubrey Allegretti, Jessica Elgot and Natalie Grover reported last night. Yesterday there was a limit to what ministers and officials would say in public about this, but this morning Nick Gibb, the schools minister, has been giving interviews, and he has gone a bit further in confirming the plan. Here are some of the points he has been making.
- Gibb said that the pilot that will determine whether daily testing can replace isolation for pupils who have been in contact with someone testing positive will end on Wednesday. He said:
We have been testing through a trial in a small number of secondary schools whether daily testing of somebody who has come into contact with somebody with Covid is an effective alternative to self-isolation. That trial finishes tomorrow and we’ll look at the data and, on the advice of Public Health England, we’ll take further decisions.
- He said schools were already being sent kits to allow them to do more testing in September. Asked if it was better to conduct tests on pupils in school, rather than at home, he replied:
Well, that’s what we’re going to do in September, if we need to. We wrote to schools yesterday asking them to prepare for taking the first two tests, once children return after the summer break, in the school, if that’s still necessary in September. And the kits are now being sent to schools ready for September.
And a Department for Education spokesperson has said:
We are provisionally asking secondary schools and colleges to prepare to offer on-site testing when students return for the new academic year, so that schools are ready in case it is needed to keep as many children as possible in face-to-face education.
We will provide further details about the approach to protective measures and test and trace in education from September in due course.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am: Boris Johnson chairs cabinet.
9.30am: The ONS publishes its weekly death figures for England and Wales.
10am: Sir Kevan Collins, who resigned as education recovery commissioner when he proposals were rejected by No 10, gives evidence to the Commons education committee.
12pm: Downing Street is expected to hold its daily lobby briefing.
12.30pm: Julia Lopez, a Cabinet Office minister, responds to a Commons urgent question on Covid contracts. This will be followed by UQs on international travel and on the EU settlement scheme.
2.30pm: Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, and Dr Gregor Smith, Scotland’s chief medical officer, hold a Covid briefing.
2.40pm: David Frost, the Brexit minister, gives evidence to the Commons culture committee.
Politics Live has been a mix of Covid and non-Covid news recently and that is likely to be the case today. For more coronavirus developments, do follow our global Covid live blog.
I try to monitor the comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer questions, and if they are of general interest, I will post the question and reply above the line (ATL), although I can’t promise to do this for everyone.
If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter. I’m on @AndrewSparrow.
Alternatively, you can email me at andrew.sparrow@theguardian.com
