ALL schools across the United Kingdom will be shut by the end of the week in a bid to control the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Following announcements earlier that schools in Scotland and Wales would be shutting on Friday, authorities in Northern Ireland said their schools would not reopen after Wednesday, and finally Education Secretary Gavin Williamson announced schools in England would also close.

“After schools shut their gates on Friday afternoon, they will remain closed until further notice,” Williamson said, adding that there would be exemptions made for children of workers in key jobs, such as the emergency services and food supply chain, to enable the parents to continue to work.

While he was telling this to Parliament, Prime Minister Boris Johnson was addressing the media on the same topic.

“Children and young people are less vulnerable, and hitherto advice has been to keep schools open if possible,” he said. “Looking at the curve (of virus spread) and where we are now, we think now we must apply downward pressure, further downward pressure on the upward curve by closing schools. The objective is to slow the spread of the virus and we judge that this is the right moment to do that.”

Earlier, when she announced the policy, Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she could not guarantee that schools would reopen again this academic year.

“The clearest guidance I can give is that schools and nurseries will not reopen after the Easter break. At this stage, I cannot promise that they will reopen before the summer holidays,” she said.

Wales’s education minister, Kirsty Williams, said she was bringing forward the start of the Easter holidays to allow school premises to be put to other use. (China Daily)