Northern Ireland

180 schools ring PHA about Covid-19 cases

Peter Weir was asked about school closures in the assembly on Tuesday
Peter Weir was asked about school closures in the assembly on Tuesday Peter Weir was asked about school closures in the assembly on Tuesday

A TOTAL of 180 schools have contacted health officials about Covid-19 cases since term began - but the actual number affected remains unclear.

Education Minister Peter Weir was unable to give an exact figure during assembly questions today.

Children returned to classrooms full-time this month after prolonged closures during lockdown.

Already, several schools have been affected by fresh cases.

Some have sent home full classes or entire year groups while others have closed.

The 1,600-pupil Holy Cross College in Strabane is the largest to shut.

St Comgall's PS in Bangor is the only one, to date, to close for two weeks.

There has been just one official update which suggested 64 schools had reported cases.

Schools in England are being surveyed and results reveal one in six secondary providers there have sent pupils home.

Sinn Féin Mid Ulster MLA Linda Dillon asked Mr Weir today to outline the numbers in the north.

Mr Weir said his department was working with the Public Health Agency (PHA) and Education Authority to "consider how best to provide the information in an accurate and timely way".

"The information that we have had so far is that over the period of the last month or so, that in terms of direct inquiries to PHA, around about 180 schools have made some level of inquiry," Mr Weir said.

"However, I think that can be misleading because that is something that can be spread over the period of a month, but it is also the case that if an inquiry is getting made, it could be simply about checking something where there is somebody perhaps displaying symptoms but there is no indication of a positive case. It can be something that is impacting on one particular pupil or member of staff.

"We do have figures which indicate the levels of school attendance. We also have figures for the numbers of teachers and education staff. The figures would suggest in both cases that there's a very high level of school attendance."

St Patrick's PS in Saul, Co Down, which has about 180 pupils, is among the latest to close.

In a message, principal Mark McGrath said there was two confirmed cases among staff.

"After consultation with CCMS and our governors we have decided the safest course of action to protect the heath and safety of the whole school community is to close until we get advice from the PHA. This has not been forthcoming just yet," he said.