Huge Covid outbreak shuts Dundee school as 17 staff test positive - Tech

Seventeen staff and two pupils have tested positive for coronavirus at a school which has now been shut until at least next week to undergo a deep clean.

All staff and children at Kingspark School in Dundee, which reopened along with other schools in Scotland on August 12, have been told to self-isolate for two weeks.

NHS Tayside confirmed positive cases among three community contacts linked to the cluster at the school, which has about 185 pupils aged between five and 18.

All pupils at the school, which was purpose built in 2009, have additional support needs – with many also having additional physical disabilities or medical problems.

The outbreak was revealed as a leading Public Health England scientist revealed teachers are far more likely to spread Covid-19 than children.

All staff and children at Kingspark School in Dundee (file image) have been told to self-isolate

Health officials confirmed a single positive case has also been linked to the primary 2A class at St Peter and Paul’s School in Dundee.

A positive case has also been linked to Happy Times out-of-school club at Downfield Primary School in the same city.

Elsewhere, a member of staff and two pupils at High Blantyre Primary School in South Lanarkshire have tested positive for Covid-19.

NHS Lanarkshire said adults and children connected to primary three or primary four had been asked not to attend class.

All pupils at the school, which was purpose built in 2009, have additional support needs

They will be offered testing on Wednesday and asked to self-isolate until they receive confirmation of a negative result.

Teachers are far more likely to spread Covid than children, says leading scientist as figures show just 1 in 10,000 schools have been hit by outbreaks

Teachers are far more likely to spread Covid-19 than children, according to a leading scientist.

Shamez Ladhani, a paediatric infectious diseases specialist at Public Health England (PHE), said that school staff will maintain social distancing rules during work but are more likely to break them outside the classroom.

It comes as data shows just one in 10,000 schools have been hit by a virus outbreak since they reopened in June. Separate analysis revealed only one in 23,000 children were infected.

A PHE analysis found 70 children out of 1.6million who had returned to school in June tested positive for Covid-19. Another 128 members of staff tested positive. And only 30 outbreaks were confirmed at 23,400 reopened schools.

The analysis, published yesterday, said the majority of cases linked to outbreaks were in staff and warned that school staff needed to be ‘more vigilant for exposure outside the school setting to protect themselves, their families and the educational setting’.

Dr Shamez Ladhani, paediatric infectious diseases specialist at PHE, who headed the monitoring of England’s schools, told The Times: ‘We need to educate the educators.

‘There’s a clear need for a duty of care outside the school setting so staff need to protect themselves, and in turn other staff and pupils.’

He added: ‘Staff are very good at social distancing and infection control in the classroom, but upon leaving the school environment these measures are more likely to be broken, potentially putting themselves and their colleagues at risk.’

Dr Josephine Pravinkumar, consultant in public health medicine, said: ‘We are aware that there will be concern among both children and their parents at this time.

‘We would like to reassure the local community that appropriate measures are being implemented.

‘Individuals should stay off school or work and get tested if they or their close contacts experience any Covid-19 symptoms, such as a cough, fever or loss of taste or smell, even if they are mild.’

Meanwhile restrictions have been placed on care homes across Tayside as authorities try to stem the spread of a coronavirus outbreak.

Indoor visits to the premises are due to restart across Scotland today, if deemed safe to do so.

However, the Tayside Incident Management Team (IMT) said this was not possible given the ongoing management of the cluster associated with the 2 Sisters factory, as well as other localised cases in the area.

Dr Emma Fletcher, associate director of public health for NHS Tayside, said: ‘The NHS Tayside Health Protection Team and colleagues in the three Health and Social Care Partnerships in Angus, Dundee and Perth and Kinross, together with other partner agencies, determined that the reintroduction of indoor visiting should not go ahead in Tayside at this time due to the ongoing situation at the factory and a number of other clusters and positive cases.

‘We know that this will cause a level of anxiety and disappointment amongst care home residents and their loved ones, however we must ensure that we do everything we can to protect care home residents, staff and their families as we continue to address the challenges that Covid-19 presents.’

There have been 110 positive cases linked to the factory cluster, including 96 workers and 14 community contacts.

All staff and their households, including children, have been ordered to self-isolate until August 31. That measure is in force even if they have a negative result.

Dr Fletcher added: ‘The increase in positive cases linked to the factory again today is in line with what we expected and we continue to undertake detailed contact tracing of all cases to ensure everyone fully understands what action they must take.

‘Over the last week in Tayside as a whole, more than 2,500 tests have been taken at the testing sites across the area, including the two dedicated facilities in Coupar Angus and Dundee brought in specifically to support testing of 2 Sisters factory workers.

‘Hundreds of workers have attended for testing and given the volume of testing which has now been completed, we expect positive cases to continue to rise in the coming days as tests are processed and we receive the results.’

Prime Minister Boris Johnson poses during a visit to St Joseph’s Catholic School in Upminster, East London, on August 10 to see how new Covid-19 preparedness plans had been put in place

Meanwhile Boris Johnson has pleaded with parents to send their children back to the classroom as he takes charge of the drive to get all UK schools open next week.

The Prime Minister warned last night that pupils risk permanent damage to their future life chances if they continue to stay away.

Mr Johnson, who tomorrow morning will return to No10 following his summer break, is in a race against the clock to get schools ready and persuade parents they are safe in time for the start of the new term.

The Government faces a big test to deliver on its promise to get all children full-time back following its shambolic handling of A-level and GCSE results.

Many pupils in England have not been to class since March, when schools were closed except to vulnerable children and those of key workers.