Covid: Secondary school pupils in London, Kent and Essex hotspot urged to get tested

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has urged pupils, their families and teachers to take a Covid test as part of a mass testing scheme for secondary schools in parts of London, Kent and Essex.

Extra mobile testing units will be sent out after east London and parts of Kent and Essex that border it became one of England's major coronavirus hotspots.

Cases in the area have risen rapidly, especially among 11 to 18-year-olds.

One London head teacher said the extra tests had been "a long time coming".

Ges Smith, head teacher at Jo Richardson Community School in Dagenham, said he would "strongly encourage" his pupils to get tested but added: "As far as I know we have got no mandate on forcing students to take that test."

Mr Hancock said: "I urge every student, parent and teacher in these areas to step forward for testing - irrespective of whether they have symptoms. While Covid-19 may be lower risk to children and young people, it still poses a significant risk to their families and communities."

The health secretary added that he wanted to keep schools and colleges open but "we must act" to target rising infection rates in secondary school pupils.

Mass Covid testing is going to become an ever bigger part of the attempt to keep schools open - and expect to see much more of it in the new year, for staff and pupils.

But this latest intervention seems to be more about targeting young people in this secondary school age group, in these hotspot areas, rather than entire school year groups being screened.

It's community testing with a focus on the rising infection rates among young people, rather than head teachers organising mass testing in schools.

There will be 15 mobile testing units "in or near schools" in London, but it seems so far unlikely to be schools testing pupils in the way universities carried out mass testing of students.

This will also raise questions. If there are such concerns about this age group, why not send pupils home to study online for the last few days of term - as has happened in Wales?

There have been consistent warnings about Covid hitting attendance in schools - so why is this testing appearing now when the term is almost over?

And schools in northern England, struggling for months with high levels of infections, will be irritated at the sudden urgency of efforts to prevent London moving up to tier three restrictions.

There is also politics behind this. After a summer of U-turns, the government will do everything it can to keep schools open in England.

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said earlier that the aim of increasing testing in the affected areas was to ensure schools "continue to be a safe place".

Asked why England was not following Wales' decision to move all classes online for secondary schools and further education colleges from Monday, Mr Dowden told BBC Breakfast the government's priority was to keep schools open.

The areas receiving extra tests for secondary schools include:

Mr Hancock said both PCR (a standard coronavirus test) and lateral flow testing - which takes about half an hour to show a result - would be used.

In a joint statement released on Friday, the Department for Education and the Department of Health said an extra 15 mobile testing units would be sent out in or near schools in the capital for staff, students and their families to be tested, providing about 75,000 tests.

And 44,000 home test kits will be made available for school staff to be tested before term begins in January.

In Essex, 10 mobile testing units will be deployed tomorrow and over the weekend, while Kent will have a further 12 mobile testing units by the start of next week.

Four London boroughs receiving the secondary schools tests were among the 20 places with the highest case rates in England in the week ending 6 December, according to Public Health England. They are Havering (400.7 cases per 100,000 people), Barking and Dagenham (333.5), Waltham Forest (327.1) and Redbridge (310.3).

Some 21 of London's 32 boroughs have infection rates higher than overall rate for England of 150 cases per 100,000 people.

Taken together, London's outer boroughs have an infection rate of 205 cases per 100,000.

That is higher than the current rate in Leicestershire, Tees Valley or Bristol, all of which are under tier three rules, the highest level, where you can only meet other households in outdoor public spaces such as parks, where the rule of six applies.

Kent is in tier three but London and Essex are currently in tier two - the second highest level - meaning there is no household mixing allowed anywhere indoors and the rule of six applies outdoors.

Mr Hancock urged Londoners to "stick by the rules" this week amid fears the capital may be moved into tier three when the tier allocations are reviewed next week.