Tue 09 June 2020:
(Reuters) – Health minister Matt Hancock launched a study to find out the prevalence and spread of the coronavirus among school children and teachers in England on Tuesday to help inform the phased reintroduction of education after a lengthy national lockdown.
The decision to gradually re-open schools has divided opinion, with Britain suffering the second-worst international death toll from COVID-19 and ministers warning of the need for caution to prevent a second wave of the virus.
The study will look to establish how widespread the virus is among children, who typically show mild symptoms or no symptoms at all, and how effectively they transmit the disease.
“This study will help us better understand how common asymptomatic and mild cases of COVID-19 are so that we can support parents, pupils and teachers and support-staff, and inform our ongoing response to this new virus,” Hancock said in a statement.
Selected age groups have been able to attend schools since the beginning of the month, although some educators decided not to re-open because they said it was not safe. Older students will also begin some schooling from June 15.
The voluntary study will be administered by the Public Health England agency and will collect data from around 200 staff and pupils at up to 100 English schools.
Researchers will use both swab tests – which check whether a person currently has the virus – and blood tests, which check whether the person has previously had the virus and developed antibodies to it.
Data will also be fed into wider government programmes designed to establish how widespread COVID-19 is, and has been, throughout the community in order to help form policy and develop new tests and treatments.
Contact tracing app of UK’s NHS almost ready: The Times
The track and trace smartphone app of Britain’s National Health Service (NHS), which is meant to help keep the novel coronavirus outbreak under control, will be ready for launch in time for the next lifting of lockdown restrictions at the start of July, The Times newspaper reported.
Britain said late last month it was dealing with technical issues related to the app, which was seen as a key measure to reopen the country as part of a test and track programme.
While The Times report said no final decision had been made on the launch date, sources told the newspaper that a nation-wide roll out was possible within as early as a fortnight.
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