UK teachers’ union calls for schools to close as country hits COVID-19 daily record

With daily coronavirus infections that grow as a result of new variant of the virus, 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 work in an “unsafe environment” of accelerating 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, the union’s joint associate. 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 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 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.