Due to the high number of new daily confirmed cases of COVID-19 and the emergence of mutant COVID-19, the British government announced on January 1, 2021 that all primary schools in the capital London will be closed and converted to distance learning, and emergency temporary hospitals will be reopened.
Gavin Williamson, the British Secretary of Education, said on the 1st that children’s education and health are national priorities.
One of the decisions to close primary schools is based on the health sector’s assessment of the COVID-19 infection rate. It is “last resort” and “s a stopgap measure” to make more students switch to remote teaching.
Two days ago, Williamson announced that London’s secondary schools would postpone their return to school after the Christmas holiday, but most primary schools will welcome students back to school on January 4, while primary schools in London’s epidemic-stricken areas will continue to be closed.
The return of primary school students to class has aroused many objections. Some parents worry that rushing to start schools may lead to children contracting mutant COVID-19.
Several officials of the London Municipal Government jointly sent an open letter to Williamson, calling for “equal treatment” of all primary schools in London. London Mayor Sadik Khan said on social media on the 1st that the government had made the “right decision” to delay the return of students to school in all primary schools in London.
According to the data of the British Department of Health on the 1st, more than 50,000 new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus have been reported every day in the past four days, 53,285 new cases have been added on the first day, and the total number of cases nationwide has exceeded 2.54 million; on the first day, 613 new deaths have been added, with a cumulative death cases exceeding 74,000.
The British government has previously said that the accelerated spread of the coronavirus in the southeastern part of England may be related to the mutant coronavirus.
A spokesman for the NHS has said that the London branch of the NHS has been asked to ensure that the temporary Nightingale hospital reopens and is ready to accept patients because of the pressure caused by the mutant coronavirus on the health care system.
During the first round of COVID-19 outbreak in the United Kingdom in March 2020, the Ministry of Health and the military jointly implemented the Nightingale plan to transform many convention and exhibition centers and other places across the country into temporary emergency hospitals.
These hospitals only treat a small number of COVID-19 patients and are mostly on standby.
However, the Royal College of Nursing warned that even if these emergency temporary hospitals were reopened, there would still be a shortage of medical staff.
