Exclusive: Boris Johnson pushes to reopen schools as Covid cases fall

Boris Johnson has ordered ministers to ramp up preparations for reopening schools after being told the UK is now past the peak of the current wave of coronavirus.

The Prime Minister has made it clear that the Government’s immediate focus must be on education and is expected to announce further measures to help children catch up after almost a year of disruption.

Mr Johnson's optimism on school reopening is built on the success of the vaccination programme. 

The Telegraph has learned that from next week, over-65s will be invited to book appointments for vaccinations, in the clearest sign to date that the Government expects to beat its target of offering jabs to all over-70s by February 15.

Mr Johnson also gave fresh hope that people will be able to enjoy a summer holiday this year if the vaccination programme stays on track.

A total of 9,296,367 people have now been vaccinated in the UK, including 900,000 over the weekend alone, meaning nine in ten over-80s and more than half of all over-70s have now been given jabs.

The number of people testing positive fell to 18,607 on Monday, meaning there has been a 30 per cent drop in cases over the past seven days, while hospital admissions are down 20 per cent week on week. Another 406 deaths were reported, meaning the seven-day average for deaths is also slightly down.

The Telegraph understands that Prof Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer, has told Mr Johnson that the peak of infections had been passed last week, as new figures showed that infections in every region in England have now subsided to pre-new year levels.

While there is concern in Government about evidence that the South Africa strain of the virus is now starting to spread in the community, Mr Johnson said he was confident the current vaccines work against all variants.

Mr Johnson has made it his number one priority to get schools open again on March 8 following renewed confidence that the virus is now in retreat.

One senior Government source said: “The Prime Minister is really determined to get children’s education back on track and to make sure that those who have fallen behind don’t stay behind.

“We are going to make sure we give them the help to do that.”

The Government has already pledged hundreds of millions of pounds for summer schools to help children catch up, but Mr Johnson wants to go beyond that and has asked ministers and officials to work up innovative ways of making up for lost classroom time.

On a visit to a vaccination centre in West Yorkshire, Mr Johnson said repairing any damage caused to children’s education was the “biggest challenge” for the Government and said he was “lost in admiration” at the efforts of parents homeschooling their children.

He said: “We want to repair any damage or any loss, any detriment to kids’ education as fast as possible.”

Asked if school playgrounds could reopen before March 8 to enable children to socialise outdoors, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: “These actions we've had to take on with respect to schools, we've taken them with a very heavy heart. And they are, as the Prime Minister said, the first measures that we will want to lift.”

Mr Johnson also disclosed that the regional tiers system of restrictions could be replaced by national tiers when the current lockdown ends.

He said a national approach to easing restrictions “might be better this time round, given that the disease is behaving much more nationally”.

And on the chances of a summer holiday he said: “I don’t want to give too much concrete by way of dates for our summer holidays. I am optimistic – I understand the reasons for being optimistic – but some things have got to go right.

“The vaccine programme has got to continue to be successful. We have got to make sure we don’t get thrown off course by new variants, we have got to make sure that we continue to keep the disease under control and the level of infections come down.”

The Telegraph understands that around three million people aged between 65 and 69 will start to be sent letters next week inviting them to book vaccinations. It means some areas may be able to offer vaccines to those below the age of 70 before February 15.

One Government source said: “We are cautiously optimistic about the target now, and looking ahead to the next age groups. The priority is to ensure that everyone over 70 is offered the vaccine by the deadline, but we are now expecting to be able to start sending letters out to those in their 60s from next week”.

Vaccines have also been sent by the UK Government to the Falkland Islands so that it can vaccinate its population of around 3,000.

Figures released on Monday show that just five local areas in the UK have recorded a week-on-week rise in Covid-19 case rates, while all national and regional rates are now at pre-new year levels.

Derbyshire Dales and East Lindsey in the East Midlands, along with Argyll & Bute, East Renfrewshire and Midlothian in Scotland, are the only local authority areas in the country to show an increase in case rates for the seven days to January 27.

Prof Adam Finn, a member of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), said there are “encouraging early signs” that the rollout of the vaccination programme is having an impact on infection rates among the over-80s and that “things are working the way we want them to”.

Almost all care home residents have now been offered a vaccine, save for a small number of homes where Covid-19 outbreaks have made it too risky for teams to inoculate people.

It led to questions on Monday about when care homes will reopen to visitors. Helen Whately, the social care minister, said it was still “too soon” for care home visits to resume, but hinted that friends and relations would not have to wait until all residents had been given a second dose of the vaccine.

She said: “We are working on, right now, what we can do in order to be able to allow some more normal visiting, to allow indoor visiting to start again, how can we use testing to [do] that.”