English schools to open in September

The British government outlined its plan to fully reopen English schools in September.

English schools will have testing kits to give to parents if children develop coronavirus symptoms in school.

Gavin Williamson, the education secretary, announced there would be no requirement for social distancing of two metres, or even one metre, between children in the classroom.

The British government outlined its plan to fully reopen English schools in autumn, along with its safety guidelines. These are based on the idea that whole classes are to be kept separate from each other in “bubbles.” There will also be increased testing for parents if children develop coronavirus symptoms at school.

The Department of Health reported: “As of 9am 2 July, there have been 9,914,663 tests, with 252,084 tests on 1 July. 283,757 people have tested positive.

“As of 5pm on 1 July, of those tested positive for coronavirus, across all settings, 43,995 have sadly died.”

Gavin Williamson: “I want to reassure parents and families that we are doing everything we can to make sure schools, nurseries, colleges and other providers are as safe as possible for children and staff, and will continue to work closely with the country’s best scientific and medical experts to ensure that is the case.”