At a Downing Street news conference on Wednesday 27 January, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said that schools in England will not be able to reopen to all pupils after the February half-term, but could do so from 8 March.
He said:
“The date of 8 March is the earliest that we think it is sensible to set for schools to go back and obviously we hope that all schools will go back. I’m hopeful, but that’s the earliest that we can do it and it depends on lots of things going right, and… it also depends on us all now continuing to work together to drive down the incidence of the disease through the basic methods we’ve used throughout this pandemic.”
Mr. Johnson told MPs the country remained in a “perilous situation” as he said UK nationals and residents arriving from 30 high-risk countries would soon be ordered to quarantine in hotels.
He revealed a plan for the “gradual and phased” lifting of the lockdown in England could come in the week beginning 22 February.
Other restrictions on daily life could be eased after schools reopen, but he explained this would depend on hitting vaccination targets, the capacity of the NHS, and deaths falling.
Commenting on the latest statement, Sharon Smith, Chief Executive, said:
“With the PM announcing schools will now not return as planned in February and the nation looks to 8 March as the next assessment date, businesses will be wondering how best to plan for any roll out of the country emerging from lockdown.
Whilst it’s unknown what a relaxation might look like, we urge all businesses to continue to plan and react swiftly as they have done over the last 11 months for every eventuality. As always, the Chamber will be here to support you with advice, guidance, resources, virtual social events and much more.”
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