Government announce the closure of schools from Friday

In today’s Prime Minister’s COVID-19 Coronavirus statement, Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, announced that schools will close to most pupils from when they finish classes on Friday 19 March 2020.

The exception will be for vulnerable children and children of Key Workers.   Mr Johnson added that children shouldn’t be left with elderly relatives as this group continues to be at greater risk from COVID-19 Coronavirus.

Sir Patrick Vallance, Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK Government, further explained that this step was being taken at this time in order to slow the transmission of the virus, rather than because children and teachers are at greater risk.

As at the date and time of the conference, the Government has confirmed that 104 people have died as a result of the virus and there are 2,626 confirmed cases within the UK.

Businesses will need to consider how they will facilitate having a greater portion of their workforce at home.

The advice from Government is for those who live alone and have symptoms of COVID-19 to stay home for 7 days.  If you live with others and you, or a member of your household has symptoms, you should stay at home for 14 days from the day the first person in your household got ill.

The relevant symptoms are:

• A new and enduring cough, or
• A high temperature

Updated factual advice and information will continue to be shared by Colmore BID.  You can also keep up to date by subscribing to our mailing lists. You can join these by emailing info@colmorebid.co.uk. You can also keep up to date by following us on Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin.  Advice is also available on the NHS website and the Government’s website.