The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “The best place for our children is in schools and so I don’t want to see schools closed or children’s education disrupted. However, the rate of infection is now dangerously high in London and we know that before Christmas secondary school aged students had the highest rates of the virus and were passing it onto their families.
“With the situation in our hospitals at critical levels, ministers must take action to reduce the spread of the virus and delay the reopening of secondary schools for in-person learning for most children until later in January, with the exception of vulnerable children and the children of key workers. This would allow time for the virus to be suppressed and for the Government to finally roll out mass testing in schools to ensure staff and students are able to return to a safe environment which does not put them or their families in harm’s way.
“The Government must also urgently provide more resources to support online learning and ensure students are not further disadvantaged by lack of access to equipment or the internet.”