Schools to be told to ‘stay open’ even if they suspect coronavirus

PHE is expected to issue new guidance to schools on Monday (Picture: EPA)

Schools do not need to close or send staff and pupils home if there is a suspected case of coronavirus, Public Health England (PHE) will advise.

PHE is expected to issue new guidance to schools on Monday saying no restrictions or special control measures are needed while tests for Covid-19 are carried out on a suspected case.

If a case of the virus is confirmed, then health protection teams will speak to the headteacher and action will be taken.

The new guidance comes a week after at least seven schools in Brighton, Hove and Eastbourne were understood to have told parents either a staff member or pupil had been advised to stay at home for 14 days by PHE.

Schools messaged parents saying they would authorise absences for families wishing to self-isolate.

Portslade Aldridge Community Academy in Brighton had a student who was put in self-isolation

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said on Sunday 3,109 tests have been carried out for coronavirus in the UK so far, with nine positive results.

This is an increase of 117 tests on the 2,992 reported on Saturday.

The number of positive tests remains at nine, with eight of those patients now discharged from hospital after recording two negative tests for the strain known as Covid-19.

But ‘millions’ of Britons with flu-like symptoms could be told by authorities to ‘self-isolate’ by staying at home for a fortnight if the UK’s number of confirmed cases passes 100, the Sunday Telegraph has reported.

The paper said senior NHS managers have been told that the service will stop testing for Covid-19 ‘once around 100 cases have been confirmed’ across the UK.

More than 100 people remain in isolation at the Kents Hill Park Hotel in Milton Keynes (Picture: Getty)

NHS England said on Saturday all 94 people in quarantine at Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral had been released.

They had been kept in isolation at the hospital after returning to the UK from Wuhan in China – the centre of the outbreak.

More than 100 people remain in isolation at the Kents Hill Park Hotel in Milton Keynes after being on a later rescue flight, the NHS added.

The death toll from coronavirus in mainland China has risen to 1,665.

Chinese authorities also reported the number of new cases has fallen for the third straight day to 2,009.

The number of people infected globally stands at 68,500, according to the country’s National Health Commission.

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