NURSERIES will stay open in Tier 4 areas – as officials prepare to announce that schools in Covid hotspots will remain shut for at least two more weeks.
No10 officials have today confirmed the good news, which will come as a relief to millions of mums and dads living in tough restrictions.
A spokesperson for the PM said there are “no plans” to slash provision for tots.
But it’s bad news for parents with older children – as all primary and secondary schools in Tier 4 will stay closed on January 4.
It comes as a mutant strain of Covid wreaks havoc in London and the south east.
People with the variant are 54 per cent more likely to pass it on to others, according to Public Health England.
Despite being more contagious, the mutation does not appear to cause worse symptoms or more deaths, and it is no more infectious among children than other strains.
However, Education Secretary Gavin Williamson is set to confirm this afternoon that schools in the hardest-hit Covid areas will remain closed because of spiralling cases.
It comes despite Michael Gove saying just days ago that he was “confident” schools would reopen across England.
The full list of areas where schools will remain shut until at least January 18 has not yet been revealed.
However, they will include hotspots with the worst infection rates.
Elsewhere across England – in Tiers 1, 2 and 3 and some lesser-hit Tier 4 areas – primary schools will return on January 4 as planned.
And secondary school Years 11 and 13 – those facing critical exams – will return on January 11, before the rest go back on January 18.
Millions more are heading into Tier 4 measures today after a record 53,135 cases were diagnosed as hospital admissions go well past the April peak.
The Government has this afternoon confirmed a slew of new areas moving tiers – with most Brits now in 3 or 4.
