MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th March, 2020) Schools in the United Kingdom will remain open until specific guidance is given by leading health officials regarding the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said on Friday, adding that the potential detriment to closing schools for children's education currently outweighs the hypothetical benefits to public health.
"At present, we are clear that the best course of action is to keep schools open unless you're advised to close by Public Health England. The chief medical officer has said the impact of closing schools on children's education will be substantial, but the benefit to the public health would not be," Williamson said during a speech at the Association of School and College Leaders annual conference in the city of Birmingham.
The minister stressed that taking children out of schools would require significant numbers of health workers to remain at home for childcare reasons.
"The government is particularly mindful of the strain on public services like the NHS [National Health Service] that would be caused by key workers having to stay at home to look after their children as a result of school closures," Williamson stated.
However, the education secretary added that the government will constantly reassess this decision, and was prepared to take required action if necessary.
"We will constantly be reassessing this position based on what the chief medical officer and the government's chief scientific adviser tell us about whether the evidence would require us to close schools in the best interests of children and the best interests of teachers. Only in line with this clear advice will we take this next step," Williamson remarked.
The UK government has been criticized for failing to take stringent measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. During an appearance on the BBC's Question Time program on Thursday, former director of public health in northwest England John Ashton said that he was "embarrassed" by the UK's response to the health crisis, adding that the government should have taken action four or five weeks ago.
Earlier in the day, the UK government announced the cancellation of local and mayoral elections, scheduled to take place in May, due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
As of 09:00 GMT on Friday, the Department of Health and Social Care has confirmed 798 cases of COVID-19 in the UK after 208 new cases were confirmed during the previous 24 hours, the largest daily increase since the start of the outbreak. A total of ten people have died after contracting the disease in the UK.
