Boost for plan to return ALL children to school on March 8 as Keir Starmer backs move

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Boris Johnson’s bid to get all children back to school in two-weeks’ time received a boost today as Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer backed the plan – and risked a furious row with unions.

The Prime Minister wants to reopen all classrooms on March 8 and is expected to announce the proposal when he reveals his roadmap out of lockdown tomorrow.

But teaching unions are fighting for a phased return to class on safety grounds and have called for teachers and school staff to jump the vaccine queue.

However Sir Keir today said he wanted all pupils in England back in school on March 8. 

He told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday that more coronavirus testing and ‘Nightingale classrooms’ could address some of the issues.

Sir Keir said: ‘Ideally, I would like to see all schools back open on March 8 and all children back into schools on March 8.

Sir Keir today said he wanted all pupils in England back in school on March 8. He told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday that more coronavirus testing and ‘Nightingale classrooms’ could address some of the issues

All pupils will return to school on March 8 and care home residents in England will each be allowed one regular visitor

All pupils will return to school on March 8 and care home residents in England will each be allowed one regular visitor

Health Secretary Matt Hancock again rejected calls for teachers to be given priority in the vaccine queue before schools return

Health Secretary Matt Hancock again rejected calls for teachers to be given priority in the vaccine queue before schools return

Risk of getting infected with Covid-19 while socialising outdoors is ‘much, much lower’ than doing the same indoors, leading scientists sa y 

The risk of becoming infected with Covid while socialising outdoors is ‘much, much lower’ than doing the same indoors, say leading scientists.

Even the slightest breeze will radically cut the chance of receiving an infectious dose from a nearby diner, as the air movement will prevent build-up of Sars-Cov-2 particles.

What’s more, the paucity of infections believed to have taken place outside adds to the fact the infection risk in open air is likely to be very low indeed, they say.

But transmission could still occur if people are sitting at the same outside table, they caution.

Explaining why infection risks are far lower outdoors than in, ventilation expert Dr Shaun Fitzgerald, director of the Centre for Climate Repair at Cambridge University, said: ‘The biggest factor is the much, much lower level of concentration of virus particles that you would be subjected to in an outdoor setting.

‘Fresh air effectively carries the virus away.’

This dilution makes ‘a huge difference as evidence shows people are able to fend off infection if they are exposed to a low dose’.

But Dr Fitzgerald stressed the importance of keeping a distance in face-to-face outdoor settings to avoid larger droplets.

‘I have been worried through the pandemic – a number of people have – about the impact that being out of school has on, particularly, vulnerable children and the attainment gap is getting bigger.’

He said the Government would have to follow the data and the scientific advice on the issue, ‘but that’s what we should be working towards’.

‘If that means more testing, if that means Nightingale classrooms, if it means other measures, let’s do that because I want to get our kids back into school.’

Mr Johnson is tomorrow expected to announce all pupils will return to school on March 8 and care home residents in England will each be allowed one regular visitor.

By Easter, at the start of April, two households will be allowed to meet up outside. That will be followed shortly afterwards by the reopening of non-essential shops and pubs and restaurants for outdoor service only. 

The hospitality industry is expected to reopen fully in May. 

It came as Health Secretary Matt Hancock again rejected calls for teachers to be given priority in the vaccine queue before schools return.

He told Sophy Ridge on Sunday: ‘We’ve asked the expert group, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, what order we should vaccinate in, broadly in order to reduce the number of deaths as fast as possible.

‘I think everybody can understand why we asked that as the question.

‘They set out the priority groups one to nine, which includes those who are clinically most vulnerable and their carers, and includes the over-50s, going down the age range.

‘They are currently considering, after that, what might be the best order in terms of clinical priority.

‘There isn’t strong evidence that teachers are more likely to catch Covid than any other group, but I’ll leave it for the JCVI to set out what they think is the best order in which to do this that minimises the number of deaths.’

Mr Hancock today warned that the Government would take its time lifting the coronavirus lockdown, despite speeding up plans to rollout vaccines to all UK adults by the end of July.

The Health Secretary said it was ‘right to be cautious’ ahead of Boris Johnson’s big reveal of his roadmap out of restrictions tomorrow.

Mr Hancock confirmed this morning that every adult in the country will be offered at least one dose of a Covid vaccine by the end of July.

Former Tory chief whip Mark Harper, who leads the Covid Recovery Group, this morning repeated his call for all restrictions be lifted by the end of April, once the most vulnerable groups had been vaccinated under the new timetable

Former Tory chief whip Mark Harper, who leads the Covid Recovery Group, this morning repeated his call for all restrictions be lifted by the end of April, once the most vulnerable groups had been vaccinated under the new timetable

The Government previously said it hoped to reach all those aged 18 and over by the autumn, but Mr Johnson aims to greatly accelerate the successful campaign.

Mr Hancock also confirmed that everyone over 50 will be offered at least a first dose by April 15, rather than by May, as previously suggested. 

But asked about the speed of the lockdown lifting, he told Sky’s Ridge on Sunday: ‘It is right to be cautious, it is incredibly important. There are still almost 20,000 people in the hospital with Covid right now. Almost 20,000.

‘The vaccination programme whilst clearly going very well, will take time to be able to reach all people who have significant vulnerability, especially because we also need to get the second jab to everybody.

‘So we have got time that needs to be taken to get this right, the PM will set out the roadmap tomorrow and he will set out the full details, taking into account that we need to take a cautious but irreversible approach, that’s the goal.’ 

However, former Tory chief whip Mark Harper, who leads the Covid Recovery Group, this morning repeated his call for all restrictions be lifted by the end of April, once the most vulnerable groups had been vaccinated under the new timetable.