Chief Medical Officer Michael McBride has written a letter to parents asking that children are not tested for coronavirus unless they suffer from one of the official list of symptoms.
Children who are presenting symptoms similar to common colds and tummy bugs do not need tested.
Researchers from Queen's University Belfast found that almost one in five children presented with gastrointestinal illnesses such as vomiting and diarrhoea if they had Covid-19- and were much more common than coughing and loss of taste or smell.
In his letter, Mr McBride acknowledged that recent research "provides useful early findings" but he said that "there needs to be a wider discussion at a UK wide level about this."
"That said, where a pupil displays gastrointestinal symptoms, such as vomiting or diarrhoea, they should not attend school until after their symptoms have resolved for at least 2 days (this means they should not have been sick or had diarrhoea for at least 2 days before they return to school)," he clarified.
"In these instances the pupil and their family should follow the school’s usual attendance policy in respect of these symptoms," he added.
In a move to alleviate their fears and concerns, the letter from the Dr McBride was issued alongside a leaflet produced by the Department of Education, with advice on the essential steps to take if a child, or anyone they live with, shows signs of the virus.
The signs are:
- A new, continuous cough – this means coughing a lot for more than an hour, or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual) ; or
- A high temperature/fever – this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do not need to measure your temperature); or
- A loss of or change in sense of smell or taste.
Mr McBride said: "Schools should not ask pupils to book a Covid-19 test unless they have one or more of the symptoms above. We are currently experiencing significant demand on our testing programme, it is important that testing is reserved for people who have symptoms of Covid-19 and people who have been advised by our contact tracing or other health services to get tested."
During the weekend of August 30 there were more than 5,000 tests carried out on children in Northern Ireland - the overwhelming majority negative.
Yesterday the Department of Education said that it was important to remember that only 64 out of our 1,300 schools, which teach more than 300,000 pupils, were affected.
Dr McBride said: “In order to ensure children and young people do not miss out on their education, it is important to be clear about how Covid-19 symptoms differ from those of other infections that we usually see circulating at this time of the year.
“I recognise that at this time of year, it is common for colds and similar viral infections to circulate. In many cases, children will be well enough to attend school and continue their learning with little or no interruption to their education.
Education Minister Peter Weir said: “I welcome this advice from the Chief Medical Officer which will help parents and carers as we enter the autumn and winter months. Colds and other similar infections are common at this time of year and the letter clarifies the action to be taken to manage those."
