Schools Need to Decide Whether to Reopen Amid Coronavirus Crisis: UK Public Health Chief

Schools to Decide When to Open: Health Chief

A senior health official stated on Friday that it is the decision of the British schools to decide about the time of reopening following the nationwide closures for containing the spread of the coronavirus or COVID-19 and a few have the confidence to do so.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government wants the schools in the UK to get reopened for few pupils from June 1 but the plans have faced the wrath of criticisms by the teaching unions and many local authorities claim they will not reopen institutions in their areas.

Schools to Decide When to Reopen: Health Official

Coronavirus
Workers make face masks at the workshop of a company in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, Jan. 28, 2020. To help fight the outbreak of pneumonia caused by novel coronavirus, workers of local medical material companies in Hubei Province rushed back to work to make protective masks, clothing and other protective equipment to guarantee the supplies. (Xinhua/Cai YangIANS) Xinhua/IANS

"Ultimately, it will be for the schools to decide whether they are ready for this and whether parents have confidence that they will send the children back," Yvonne Doyle, medical director and director for health protection at Public Health England, told parliament's science committee. "I am confident that some schools may already feel they are ready to open, others may not."

(With agency inputs)

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