LONDON (AP) – With the daily rise in coronavirus infections due to a new virus variant, the British government on Saturday faced growing pressure from teachers’ unions to keep schools in England closed for at least another two weeks.
The government, which oversees schools in England, has already decided to keep all schools in London closed next week to try to stop new infections. The unions want the policy to spread across England, expressing concerns about the health of teachers and children.
The UK hit a daily record of new coronavirus infections on Saturday – 57,725 – and looks set to soon overtake Italy again to become the worst-hit country in Europe, with nearly 75,000 deaths from COVID-19. The fear is that as infections increase, the number of deaths will increase in the coming weeks.
The UK has recorded the top five new daily infection numbers in the last five days – all over 50,000 and doubles the number just a few weeks ago.
After an emergency meeting on Saturday, the National Union for Education, which represents more than 450,000 education workers, called on the Conservative government of Prime Minister Boris Johnson to move online learning for at least two weeks. He also told members that they have a legal right not to have to work in an “unsafe environment” to accelerate 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 are a danger to their health and the health of school communities,” said Kevin Courtney, general secretary.
Another teachers’ union, NASUWT, has also called for an immediate national move to distance education due to virus safety issues. Its secretary general, Patrick Roach, said there was “genuine concern” that schools and colleges were not able to reopen safely at this time.
“NASUWT will not hesitate to take appropriate measures to protect members whose safety is endangered by the failure of employers or the government to ensure safe working conditions in schools and colleges,” he said.
The government’s Scientific Advisory Group on Emergencies warned at a meeting on 22 December that schools must remain closed to reduce transmission rates of the virus.
The UK is struggling with a sharp rise in new cases as a result of a new variant of the virus that officials say could be up to 70% more infectious.
The variant was particularly widespread in London and surrounding areas, prompting Education Secretary Gavin Williamson to abandon plans to allow primary schools – those for children at least 11 years old – in the capital to reopen according to schedule. on January 4th.
Most other primary schools in England are scheduled to open on Monday. The reopening of the high school has already been delayed for millions of students, with students in their exam years returning on January 11 and others a week later.
With many British hospitals in or near capacity, there are growing concerns about how the already expanded National Health Service will cope with an expected increase in people seeking treatment after becoming infected during the holidays. Field hospitals are being re-equipped to receive patients.
On the inoculation front, the UK began vaccinating people over 80 and health workers on December 8 with the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine. Last week, the government approved another vaccine produced by Oxford University and pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, which is cheaper and easier to use.
The UK plans to step up vaccinations on Monday using 530,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine and has set a target of vaccinating 2 million people a week as soon as possible.
Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath in the south of England was one of the first to receive the newly approved vaccine on Saturday.
Dr. George Findlay, the trust’s chief physician, said the newly approved vaccine is “much easier” to administer than the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which should be kept at temperatures of about minus 70 degrees Celsius (minus 94 Fahrenheit).
More than a million people in the UK have already received their first vaccine with the Pfizer vaccine.
In a move from US practice, the UK intends to give people a second dose of both vaccines within 12 weeks of the first shot, rather than 21 days, to speed up immunizations as soon as possible. many people as soon as possible.
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