Experts have admitted they don’t know how far schools might be fuelling England’s second wave after they recorded more than 1,000 groups of coronavirus cases.
National Statistician Sir Ian Diamond is set to lead a review after the government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) revealed the huge toll of incidents.
New SAGE papers say there have been more than 1,000 “clusters and outbreaks” - of two or more cases each - in education settings since schools reopened in September.
Virus rates have “risen significantly” in school-age children since around the time schools reopened, SAGE added. And children aged 12 to 16 played a “significantly higher role” in introducing infection into households since September.