SCHOOLS are to officially close across Northern Ireland to all children from Monday - and possibly stay shut until summer.
Buildings will stay open for a short time for staff to let them prepare for home learning.
While the situation is likely to be re-assessed after Easter, it is thought the shutdown will last for the rest of the academic year.
Exams will not take place as planned in May and June, according to Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
The blanket lockdown in Northern Ireland was announced just hours after the education minister told an assembly committee that it was business as usual.
Several schools had already closed amid coronavirus fears while attendances plummeted elsewhere as parents voted with their feet.
It is unknown how many shut voluntarily as the number was increasing by the hour.
Committee members were warned that there would be "no good outcome".
A short time after education minister Peter Weir said schools were staying open, Scotland and Wales said there would be closures from Friday.
Mr Weir pointed out that if children were to be withdrawn from school "we are talking about for the rest of this academic year".
"This virus will not be eradicated in a very short period of time," he added.
Department of Education Permanent Secretary Derek Baker issued a stark warning.
"There is no good outcome here, no elegant outcome here, no positive outcome here," he told the committee.
"We are in the business of mitigations and best worst outcomes. We are in unprecedented times."
He told members that the day job in his department would cease saying coronavirus was "the single issue".
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Mr Baker listed "five big-ticket issues" that were being addressed urgently. These are examinations, free school meals, welfare, distance learning and childcare.
It was suggested that meals could continue to be prepared away from school sites and delivered to in-need children by community volunteers.
Education and health officials are also discussing how to continue providing counselling and other wellbeing initiatives for children whose "main touch-point is school".
Sinn Féin's Catherine Kelly raised concerns about education workers with underlying health problems adding that half of the school bus drivers in Fermanagh and Tyrone were aged 65 or older.
Justin McNulty of the SDLP said there was a good outcome to schools closing "if it saves lives".
He added that there is a need for "calmness and "adopting a universal approach across the island".
Committee deputy chair Karen Mullan said it was impossible to achieve social distancing inside a classroom.
She added that it was alarming that schools reporting suspected cases of Covid-19 were being advised to remain open.
Ebrington PS in Derry was told it was not allowed to close.
In a letter to parents, principal Brian Guthrie said a child who displayed no symptoms while in school last week became unwell over the weekend.
Mr Guthrie applied to the department for two exceptional closure days on Thursday and Friday.
"I have been unsuccessful and these have been denied, a similar story to many other primary schools in our city who had applied for the same," he wrote.
"I totally understand and respect your decision to protect your children and families. You should therefore do what you feel is right for your own individual circumstances.
Earlier this week, St Patrick's PS in Legamaddy also said it would remain open after it was reported two of its pupils had been diagnosed.
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ANALYSIS
HEALTH minister Robin Swann said the coronavirus outbreak may be "the greatest societal challenge since the Second World War".
Apt that contingency plans for schools in the event of a lockdown were shared yesterday in the assembly senate, which the RAF used as an operations room during that conflict.
Committee members were told schools should carry on as normal. Outside in the estate, meanwhile, families with school-age children were enjoying a dog walk at a time when pupils would ordinarily be in class.
It has become clear in recent days that the initial advice from the education minister was simply being ignored by some schools and many parents, although this was never an issue that officials would go to battle over.
Had Ebrington PS simply shut after learning a pupil had suspected Covid-19, there would likely have been no conflict. It asked permission and was told no, however.
Other schools had already announced indefinite closures or told their children to stay home for the rest of the month.
Yesterday's committee heard concerns about the impact of a wide lockdown on meals for children from low-income families and welfare. There are worries about the physical and mental health consequences of denying access to school buildings.
Learning will continue in some form. The permanent secretary said buildings would not have a chain put around them. They could remain open with some staff on site.
The exams timetable could be shifted to the right and boards already have drawn up robust contingency plans for that. Discussions are also taking place with universities about admissions.
Classes can be delivered online, although there are concerns that those in deprived areas may not have the same access to technology.
A major issue is childcare. One possible solution, not raised at the committee, could be the redeployment of classroom assistants to help in this area.
While there are major challenges ahead, the broad educational issues "are ultimately solveable" Peter Weir says.
The picture will, schools and parents hope, become less uncertain by the middle of next week as schools begin to respond to a rapidly and ever-changing situation.
