LONDON (AP) – With the daily increase in the coronavirus due to a new virus variant, the British government was faced with increasing pressure from teachers’ unions on Saturday to keep schools in England closed for at least another two weeks.
The government, which oversees schools in England, has already decided to close all schools in London next week to try to prevent new infections. Unions want the policy to extend across England and express concerns about the health of both teachers and children.
The UK hit a daily record for new coronavirus infections on Saturday – 57,725 – and appeared to be overtaking Italy again soon to become Europe’s hardest-hit country with nearly 75,000 COVID-19 deaths. The fear is that with increasing infections, the number of deaths will also increase in the coming weeks.
The UK has recorded the five highest daily new contamination numbers in the last five days – all over 50,000 and double what a few weeks ago.
Following an emergency meeting on Saturday, the National Education Union, which represents more than 450,000 education workers, called on Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative government to put learning online for at least two weeks. It also told members they have a legal right not to work in an “unsafe environment” of accelerated coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths.
“We do our job as a union by informing our members that they have a legal right to refuse to work in unsafe conditions that endanger their health and the health of their school communities,” said Kevin Courtney, the partnership of the union general secretary.
Another union representing teachers, the NASUWT, also called for an immediate nationwide switch to distance education due to virus safety concerns. Secretary-General Patrick Roach said there is “genuine concern” that schools and colleges cannot reopen safely at this time.
“The NASUWT will not hesitate to take appropriate measures to protect members whose safety is compromised as a result of the failure of employers or the government to ensure safe working conditions in schools and colleges,” he said.
The government’s own Emergency Scientific Advisory Group warned at a Dec. 22 meeting that schools should remain closed to reduce virus transmission rates.
The UK is facing a sharp spike in new cases due to a new virus variant that officials say could be up to 70% more contagious.
The variant was particularly common in London and surrounding areas, prompting Education Secretary Gavin Williamson to revert to plans to reopen some primary schools – those for children 11 and under – in the capital as planned on 4 January.
Most other primary schools in England will still open on Monday. The reopenings of high schools have already been delayed for millions of students, with graduate students scheduled to return on January 11 and others a week later.
With many UK hospitals at or near full, there are growing concerns about how the already stretched National Health Service will cope with an expected increase in people seeking treatment after becoming infected while on holiday. Field hospitals are again being equipped to receive patients.
In the field of vaccinations, Britain started vaccinating over 80s and health workers with the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine on December 8. Last week, the government approved another vaccine, made by Oxford University and pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, that is cheaper and easier to use.
The UK plans to ramp up vaccinations on Monday with 530,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine and has a goal of vaccinating 2 million people a week as soon as possible.
The Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath in southern England was one of the first to receive the newly approved vaccine on Saturday.
Dr. George Findlay, the trust’s chief medical officer, said the newly approved vaccine is “much easier” to administer than the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which must be stored at temperatures around minus 70 degrees Celsius (minus 94 Fahrenheit).
More than a million people in the UK have already received their first shot of the Pfizer vaccine.
In a shift in US practices, Britain plans to give people a second dose of both vaccines within 12 weeks of their first injection, rather than within 21 days, to get as many people immunizations as soon as possible. to speed up.
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