PM Boris Johnson says parents should send children to school and tougher Covid measures are likely

The Prime Minister said he has “no doubt” that classrooms are safe and that the risk to young people was “very, very small” amid calls from teaching unions to close all schools for the next two weeks.

Referring to the tiers system, Mr Johnson said that coronavirus restrictions in England are “probably about to get tougher” due to rising infection rates.

Appearing on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show on Sunday (December 3) morning, the Prime Minister said: “Schools are safe. It is very, very important to stress that.

“I would advise all parents thinking about want to do, look at where your area is, overwhelmingly you’ll be in a part of the country where primary schools tomorrow will be open.”

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Tougher restrictions to deal with the coronavirus crisis could be on the way in the next few weeks, Boris Johnson has signalled.

The Prime Minister said he was “fully reconciled” to a probable tightening of the anti-Covid measures.

Mr Johnson said the tiering system was already “very tough” and would likely need tightening.

The Prime Minister said: “It may be that we need to do things in the next few weeks that will be tougher in many parts of the country.

“I’m fully, fully reconciled to that.

“There are obviously a range of tougher measures that that we would have to consider.

“I’m not going to speculate now about what they would be, but I’m sure that all our viewers and our listeners will understand what the sort of things… clearly school closures, which we had to do in March is one of those things.”

Mr Johnson said a mass vaccine programme was the way out of the tiering system.

He said: “What we are doing now is using the tiering system, which is a very tough system… and, alas, probably about to get tougher to keep things under control.

“But, we will review it.”

He added: “And we have the prospect of vaccines coming down the track in their tens of millions.

“And that, I think, is something that should keep people going in what I predicted, back on your show in in October, will be a very bumpy period right now. It is bumpy and it’s going to be bumpy.”

The new strain of Covid-19 transmits faster and is most prevalent in London and the South East, where hospitals have become stretched.

And Professor Sir Mark Walport, who is a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), said it was “pretty clear” tougher restrictions were needed.

Asked if Tier 4 measures were enough, the former chief scientific adviser said: “It’s the Tier 4 restrictions, it’s obeying them.

“It is thinking about breaking essentially every possible route of transmission we possibly can.

“Those are the things that are absolutely necessary and it is pretty clear we’re going to need more.”