Health secretary, Matt Hancock, has said that schools will need to be certain that social distancing is in place between staff and pupils to ensure coronavirus is not spread between schools by supply teachers.

When asked about whether extra guidance was being given to schools about supply teachers working in multiple schools, Mr Hancock told Sky News: “The principle is that we want to keep certain teachers socially distanced from the pupils because there are all sorts of circumstances where a teacher might need to teach classes that are in different bubbles within the school.

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“The pupils are put within bubbles and the bubbles shouldn’t meet.

“The goal is to keep the teachers socially distanced.

“This is just one example of how challenging it is for all sorts of parts of society to minimise the impact of Covid.

“My answer to you is that it is the social distancing between the teacher and pupils which is the goal here, but our total focus is on getting the schools back.”

He said chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance and chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty were consulted on the decision to make it mandatory for secondary-aged pupils to wear face coverings in communal areas in schools which are in so-called coronavirus hot spots.