The government needs to ensure that community transmission of Covid-19 remains low to ensure schools can open safely in September to avoid  a ‘super-spreading event’, experts from the Independent SAGE Committee of scientists have said.

Reopening schools has little effect on community transmission when infection rates are low, but if local infection rates are high, then it’s “much riskier,” a member of the committee said.

Speaking at a committee briefing focusing on school reopening earlier today, Dr Zubaida Haque said: “The government has to make sure they get the balance right between opening up the rest of the economy and making sure that coronavirus cases remain low in the community. 

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“From international evidence, the risk to children of Covid-19 is very low.

“There are some differences between primary and secondary children and we need to think about that in terms of our nuanced approach, but generally the risk to children is very low.

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“There’s good evidence to show that where community transmission of Covid-19 is very low or controlled in a country as a whole, reopening schools has little effect on increasing the spread of coronavirus nationwide.

“At a local level, reopening schools can result in a local outbreak. At a local level, reopening schools can only reflect what is going on in the local community: if cases of local infections are high, it’s much more riskier to reopen schools, and that’s because schools act, if you like, as a super-spreading event: many people are mixing for an extended period of time in an enclosed space.”

Dr Haque made her comments as the group published its proposals designed to ensure that schools can remain reopened from September.

The first recommendation was to reduce levels of infection in the community.

Dr Haque: “The first step is that the government needs to reduce the level of virus circulating in the community in order to reduce the chances of schools triggering a super spreading event.”

She explained that the government needs to work closely with local public health teams and local authorities to ensure cases remain low.

But she added: “That also means we can’t have everything - the government needs to think very hard about the fact that can they open everything (pubs, casinos and other places) and at the same time ensure Covid cases remain low? We, at Indie SAGE don’t believe it’s entirely possible at the moment. They need to make some hard decisions.”