Schools: Coronavirus

(asked on 2nd June 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer on 28 May 2020 to Question 48614 on Schools: Coronavirus, what steps will be taken under his proposals for rapid action in the event that a child tests positive for covid-19 on returning to school.


Answered by
Nick Gibb Portrait
Nick Gibb
This question was answered on 10th June 2020

The new NHS Test and Trace service was launched on 28 May across England. Anyone who tests positive for COVID-19 will be contacted by NHS Test and Trace and will need to share information about their recent interactions. The Government has recruited 25,000 contact tracers, able to track 10,000 new cases a day.

If a child or young person in school develops symptoms compatible with COVID-19, they should be sent home and advised to self-isolate for 7 days and arrange to have a test. Where the child or young person tests positive, traced close contacts, including the rest of their small group, should be sent home and advised to self-isolate for 14 days.

As part of the national test and trace programme, if further positive test results arise among the child’s class or school, Public Health England’s local Health Protection Teams will conduct a rapid investigation into the outbreak and will advise schools and other settings on the most appropriate action to take. In some cases, a larger number of other children may be asked to self-isolate at home as a precautionary measure.

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