Will NI schools close a week early for Christmas?

Nov 25, 2020

Dear reader,

The speculation that Northern Ireland’s schools might close a week early for the Christmas holidays refuses to go away.

The News Letter understands that several schools in Northern Ireland have told parents/carers that schools could close for Christmas one week early on December 11.

Such a move would see schools in the Province close for three weeks, which health advisers apparently claim would help reduce the coronavirus infection rate.

In a week of largely positive announcements on the economic front, Chancellor Rishi Sunak confirmed that Northern Ireland is to receive another £1bn of extra funding to deal with the economic devastation caused by Covid-19.

The Department of Health here has clarified the apparent anomaly yesterday in the total number of new coronavirus infections in Northern Ireland.

When confirming that another 533 people have tested positive for the virus on Wednesday, the department’s dashboard said that future was higher than expected because of an “issue with the flow of data” on pillar two tests (lab tests carried out through the NHS nationwide programme) on Tuesday.

Another seven people with Covid-19 have also died in Northern Ireland.

Alistair Bushe,

Editor

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