14 Wednesday January 26 2022 | the times
News
Covid cases in schools have doubled in
a fortnight, meaning infections are no
longer falling across the country.
Figures released yesterday by the
Department for Education show one in
20 pupils were out of class due to the
pandemic on January 20.
The figures are a record high for this
academic year, with 415,300 pupils ab-
sent in total, of whom 321,800 had a
confirmed case of coronavirus. This is
twice as many as January 6, and almost
triple the 110,900 pupils off school
before Christmas.
A record number of teachers and
head teachers were also absent on
January 20, with 9 per cent not in
school, up from 8.6 per cent on January
6, the latest data also shows.
The surge in infections among
schoolchildren appears to have stopped
recent falls in Covid cases in England.
With 94,326 UK cases reported yes-
terday, the seven-day average has now
been largely flat for the past week.
The plateau has been caused by a
steep increase among the under-tens,
where cases began rising at the end of
December and have doubled in the past
two weeks.
The 0-9 age group now has the high-
est infection rates, at 1,441 per 100,000,
up from 600 on New Year’s Day.
Cases are also rising again in those
aged 10-19, which have reached 1,
per 100,000 after falling to 1,100 on Jan-
uary 15. Falls in infections also appear
to have come to an end in those aged 30
to 50, but are continuing in twentyso-
methings and older adults.
Professor Alastair Grant of the Uni-
versity of East Anglia, who has access to
more detailed UK Health Security
Agency data, said: “Covid case numbers
are growing in primary and secondary
schoolchildren, and are also increasing
in those between 30 and 45, presumably
indicating transmission from children
to their parents. Cases are still falling in
those in their mid-40s and older adults.”
He added that the rises were concen-
trated in the south and east of England,
which were not hit as hard by Decem-
ber’s Omicron wave. “As numbers were
rising before plan B was relaxed, I’d
expect some more rises to come. There
are a lot of people who haven’t had a
third vaccine dose, and Omicron is
unbelievably effective at spreading to
those who have just had two,” he said.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of
Airlines and travel operators are expe-
riencing a surge of bookings after the
government’s decision to abandon test-
ing for fully vaccinated travellers.
Jet2, Tui, and Thomas Cook have all
reported a rush of customer bookings,
with flights during the February half-
term and Easter holidays in particularly
high demand.
On Monday Grant Shapps, the trans-
port secretary, said fully vaccinated
travellers arriving in England or Scot-
land would no longer have to take Cov-
id tests upon their return.
“With these changes, we have one of
the most open travel sectors in the
world... everyone should now feel con-
fident about booking holidays,” he said.
The changes come in at 4am on Feb-
ruary 11. The rules for unvaccinated
travellers have been eased, although
they still require pre-departure and day
two tests.
Steve Heapy, the chief executive of
Javid ‘reflects’ on mandatory
vaccinations for NHS staff
Kat Lay Health EditorFlight sales soar as testing is dropped
Jet2, said the decision has had an imme-
diate impact. “Before yesterday’s an-
nouncement demand was already
strong, however, bookings have jumped
by another 30 per cent when compared
with the previous week, demonstrating
just how much of a game-changer the
removal of all testing is for fully vacci-
nated holidaymakers.”
“With international travel starting to
look like it did before the pandemic,
customers are jumping at the chance to
book their flights and holidays.”
Andrew Flintham, the managing dir-
ector of Tui Britain, added: “The latest
travel announcement is a huge leap for-
wards in getting travel back to normal.
The relaxation of testing rules has
already resulted in an increase in book-
ings, with customer confidence grow-
ing every day in recent weeks.”
Travel operators said that traditional
locations such as Spain and Portugal
were selling strongly, but eastern Medi-
terranean destinations, in particular
Greece, Turkey and Cyprus, were
showing dramatic growth. ThomasCook said Turkey was its best-selling
destination for summer, with weekly
bookings to both the Dalaman and
Antalya regions up sixfold on the aver-
age from last year.
Skyscanner, the flight comparison
website, said that holidaymakers were
becoming more adventurous in their
destination choices. It reported that
bookings for the Maldives and Mexico
were up 125 per cent and 110 per cent
respectively on 2019. Costa Rica,
Colombia and Tanzania were also
experiencing above average growth in
demand, it added.
A survey commissioned by the com-
pany found that 44 per cent of Britons
planned to go abroad this year and of
those travelling, 41 per cent intended to
visit a new destination.
Gemma Jamieson, of Skyscanner,
said travel prices were still cheaper than
normal, with return flights to Spain
selling for £21 and Turkey from £152.
“This news, coupled with the hyper-
competitive prices available, means
international travel is ready to take off.”Andrew Ellson
Consumer Affairs Correspondent
The government is “reflecting” on its
policy of requiring NHS staff to be
double jabbed against Covid-19, the
health secretary told MPs last night,
but said the patient safety reasons
behind it remained unchanged.
Sajid Javid also told the health and
social care select committee that he
wanted to establish a “national vaccina-
tion service” that would mean GPs did
not have to stop doing other work in
order to deliver jabs.
All frontline health and social care
workers must be double vaccinated by
April 1 to keep their jobs, with a deadline
for first jabs on February 3.
Javid said he had had representations
from people saying he should add
boosters to the requirement because of
evidence two vaccines were “not quite
good enough” against the Omicron
variant, while others suggested drop-
ping it altogether. He added: “I think
it is right in light of Omicron that we
reflect on all this and keep all Covid
policies properly under review.”
About 77,000 NHS trust workers
remain fully unvaccinated, Javid said,
a figure that was “improving”. Trustshave been asked to set out how many
staff they expect will not come forward,
and what their roles are, in order to plan
for shortages. Javid added: “Regardless
of the mandate for NHS workers, it is
the professional duty of every NHS
worker to get vaccinated.”Figures as of 6pm yesterday Source: Our World in Data (latest
figures available) and gov.uk. Note: Selected countries.Percentage of population who have
received at least one vaccine dose
(total doses administered in brackets)Daily
(Jan 24)
First dose
16,Boosters
(Jan 24)
55,Second
48.2mSecond
29,Total
37mFirst dose
52.3mPeople
vaccinated
in UKHow Britain compares
UAE 99.0% (23.3m)
Portugal 94.0% (21m)
Malta 89.3% (1.2m)
Spain 87.3% (88.8m)
Canada 84.7% (76.3m)Italy 82.6% (124.7m)Australia 83.0% (48.3m)France 79.5% (134.6m)US 75.6% (535.3m)
Germany 74.8% (162.1m)UK 76.9% (137.5m)News Coronavirus
Record school infections mean
Emma Yeomans, Chris Smyth
Nicola Woolcock
the head teachers’ union the NAHT,
said schools are “still seeing significant
levels of disruption due to Covid, with
both pupil and staff absence very high”.
“Covid absence figures for pupils are
the worst they have been this academic
year,” he added.
Whiteman said schools were “strug-
gling to keep things running”, with
nearly 10 per cent of their staff off on av-
erage. “But for some this is much
higher,” he said. “Our members are re-
peatedly telling us that they are having
to drop everything to find cover and that
just keeping things going is a challenge.”
He said that head teachers were still
“very much in the eye of the Covid
storm” and that the disruption is caus-
ing “huge pressure” for pupils prepar-
ing to sit exams.
The record Covid cases for the year
come as more than 1 million children
missed school for any reason, amount-
ing to one in eight pupils.
The amount of missed schooling has
raised new fears for lost learning.
The National Education Union said
cases among pupils and staff had result-
ed in children missing out on teaching
“frequently and unevenly”, and called
for mitigations to this summer’s exams.
“The additional disruption seen in
today’s figures only raises further ques-
tions about this misguided plan and
fairness for students in the summer,”
Kevin Courtney, the union’s general
secretary, said.
MPs heard yesterday that a key pillar
of the government’s plan for an educa-
tion catch-up, the National Tutoring
Programme, was struggling due to “var-
iable” quality of tutoring on offer.
Ruth Holden, executive head teacher
of Mulberry Academy Shoreditch in
east London, told the education select
committee: “We found the National Tu-
toring Programme variable, really vari-
able, and quite inconsistent.”
She said: “Some of those people were
very good in terms of their specialism
but they weren’t necessarily very good
with children, particularly children
who need a particular style of engage-
ment, because they aren’t very able, or
had connectivity issues or a whole host
of things to do with deprivation.”
Another head teacher said that her
schools had not used the programme at
all. Jo Coton, executive head teacher at
NET Academies Trust, which runs six
primary schools in Essex, said: “Some of
the tutors, perhaps, have [come] from
agencies. They tend to be, in my experi-
ence, not the most effective teachers.”Clubbers show their vaccine passports in the queue for the Buff Club, Glasgow,The national picture
How many are in hospital?
There are 17,162 patients in hospital being
treated. 598 patients are on ventilators. An
additional 1,613 patients have been
admitted, down 14.5 per cent in seven days
to Jan 21 when this data was last updatedHow many people have Covid-19?
There were 94,326 new cases reported
yesterday, bringing the total to 16,047,
or 240.2 for every 1,000 people
-3.2% decrease from seven days ago
(based on seven-day moving average)Oct Jan
2021Apr Jul Oct Jan
2022050,100,150,200,Daily casesHospital admissions
Seven-day averageOct Jan
2021Apr Jul Oct Jan
202201,2,3,4,How many have died?
Yesterday, there were 439 deaths reported,
bringing the total number of deaths in the
past seven days to 1,844. The rolling
average number of daily deaths is 263.4,
down from 272 a day a week ago
Deaths
Seven-day averageOct Jan
2021Apr Jul Oct Jan
202205001,1,How does 2021 compare?
There were 12,262 deaths from all causes
recorded in England and Wales in the week
to January 7, of which the coronavirus
accounted for 7. 5 per cent. The number of
weekly deaths was 1,036 lower than the
five-year average for the same time of yearApr Jul Oct Jan Apr Jul Oct05,10,15,20,
2020/Five-year
averageSeven-day
averageNational
R number
0.8 to 1.