The prime minister has said “no decisions” have been made on whether all pupils can return to school at the same time.
Boris Johnson pledged a “cautious but irreversible” approach to easing the lockdown and stressed the need to be “very prudent” as ministers begin reviewing coronavirus restrictions in England, while lockdown-sceptical Conservative MPs exert pressure for a swift reopening.
Mr Johnson is preparing to set out his “roadmap” for relaxing measures on 22 February, with 8 March earmarked for schools to start reopening to all pupils.
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He further signalled that he was taking a cautious approach by warning that there is an increased chance of new and concerning Covid variants emerging if infections remain high.
Coronavirus: Reopening schools ‘a priority’
“When you have a large level of circulation, when you’ve got a lot of disease, invariably the vulnerable suffer, so that’s why we want to drive it right down, keep it right down,” Mr Johnson said during a visit to Orpington Health and Wellbeing Centre in south-east London.
Ministers have said that reopening of schools is their first priority, but reports have suggested that a staggered approach may be taken, with secondary schools going back a week later than primaries.
“No decisions have been taken on that sort of detail yet, though clearly [opening] schools on 8 March has for a long time been a priority of the government and of families up and down the country,” Mr Johnson told reporters.
He said “we will do everything we can to make that happen”, but cautioned that infection rates are still “comparatively high” and the number of Covid-19 patients in the NHS remains higher than the April peak.
“So we’ve got to be very prudent and what we wanted to see is progress that is cautious but irreversible, and I think that’s what the public and people up and down the country will want to see,” Mr Johnson added.
