LONDON (AP) – With daily coronavirus infections growing as a result of a new virus variant, the British government on Saturday faced pressure from teachers’ unions to keep schools in England closed for at least two more weeks.
The government, which oversees schools in England, has already decided to keep all London schools closed next week to try to curb new infections. The unions want the policy to spread across England, expressing fears about the health of both teachers and children.
On Saturday, the UK hit the daily record for new coronavirus infections (57,725) and looks set to soon overtake Italy once again to become the most affected country in Europe with nearly 75,000 deaths from COVID-19. The fear is that with the rise in infections, the death toll will also rise in the coming weeks.
The UK has recorded its five new daily infection figures in the last five days, all above 50,000 and twice as many as a few weeks ago.
Following an emergency meeting on Saturday, the National Education Union, 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 they have the legal right not to have to work in an “unsafe environment” to expedite coronavirus cases, hospital admissions and deaths.
“We are doing 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 to the health of their school communities,” he said. Kevin Courtney, joint member of the union Secretary General.
Another union representing teachers, the NASUWT, also called for an immediate nationwide relocation to remote education due to virus security issues. Its general secretary, Patrick Roach, said there was “real concern” that schools and colleges could not reopen safely at this time.
“The NASUWT will not hesitate to take appropriate measures to protect members whose safety is put at risk 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 own Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies warned at a December 22 meeting that schools should remain closed to reduce virus transmission rates.
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.
The variant has been particularly common in London and surrounding areas, prompting Secretary of Education Gavin Williamson to withdraw from plans to allow some primary schools (those of children aged 11 and under) in the capital. they could reopen as scheduled on January 4th.
Most other primary schools in England are still scheduled to open on Monday. The reopening of the institute has already been delayed for millions of students and the students of the exam are expected to return on January 11 and others a week later.
With many British hospitals at their capacity or nearly so, there are growing concerns about how the already expanded National Health Service will cope with the projected increase in people seeking treatment after becoming infected over the holidays. Field hospitals are being re-equipped to accommodate patients.
As for inoculations, Britain began vaccinating people over 80 and health workers on December 8 with the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine. Last week, the government approved another vaccine made by Oxford University and pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, which is cheaper and easier to use.
The UK plans to increase vaccines on Monday by 530,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine and has set a target of vaccinating 2 million people a week as soon as possible.
Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath, in the south of England, was one of the first to receive the newly approved vaccine on Saturday.
Dr. George Findlay, chief physician of the trust, said the newly approved vaccine is “much easier” to administer than the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which should be stored at temperatures around 70 degrees Celsius (less 94 Fahrenheit).
More than a million people in the UK have already received the first shot of the Pfizer vaccine.
In a change of practice in the United States, Britain plans to give people doses of both vaccines within 12 weeks after the first vaccine instead of 21 days, to speed up vaccinations to as many people as possible as soon as possible. .
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