To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the prevalence of transmission of covid-19 in (a) primary schools and (b) secondary schools for pupils (i) aged 11-16 and (ii) over 16.
Answered on
7 December 2020
Public Health England (PHE) reports on the number of suspected and confirmed clusters and outbreaks linked to educational settings in the weekly surveillance report. PHE also publishes weekly COVID-19 surveillance data for ‘educational-aged cohorts’ alongside the COVID-19 weekly surveillance report. These are available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-flu-and-covid-19-surveillance-reports
PHE is undertaking enhanced surveillance of COVID-19 in primary and secondary schools through a number of research studies. More information is available at the following link:
On 4 November the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies considered a paper prepared by the Children’s Task and Finish Group summarising the latest evidence on the role children play in COVID-19 transmission, this included children aged 11-16 and those over 16 years. This is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tfc-children-and-transmission-4-november-2020