it's still far too early to offer a
timetable for easing the covid
restrictions
that's the warning from the health
secretary for england matt hancock
who said today that the pressure on the
nhs was just too great
with the number of patients being
admitted almost double the peak in april
last year
and he said the success of the vaccine
rollout meant that progress
should not be put at risk there is a
group of conservative mps demanding the
restrictions be relaxed
and schools reopened as soon as key
groups have had their vaccinations
but public health england warned today
that death rates and hospitalizations
will need to fall much further before
considering a return
to the old tiered system our political
editor laura kunsberg reports on the
latest debate about
ending the lockdown barely a footprint
where snowballs would normally be thrown
lockdown's most profound effect perhaps
about 8 million of the next generation
out of school and their garden in
bromley
can't fill the gap i've got two children
an eight-year-old girl and a
ten-year-old boy and my son's school
have decided
not to provide any online learning at
all and his confidence is absolutely
zero he feels
like he's a failure and when your 10
year old is telling you that they're not
good enough
they don't want to be here that is
really
scary to hear i would just ask
for some idea about how
we can get back to normal ministers have
mentioned before or after easter
but the prime minister today suggested
once the most vulnerable have had their
jabs
next month before then we'll be looking
at the
potential of relaxing uh some measures
but don't forget that this country has
made huge progress in reducing infection
i don't think
people want to see another big surge in
infection
you might wonder hearing that if the
rules might be
rolled back a bit next month well the
law
says they have to be reviewed in the
middle of february but don't
expect any major changes ministers want
to be sure
the cases are falling deaths are falling
the vaccines working
and that there aren't any new dangerous
variants of the disease around
and this time they want to be confident
that when they unlock
they don't later have to slam the
country's doors again
yet there are growing demands over there
for at least a sketch
of what the way out might look like
people are going through a really hard
time at the moment we're all kind of
grinding this lockdown out
and then people will hear this and get
all sorts of uh perhaps even false hopes
so
i don't think that that lack of clarity
helps i think it's better if
if the government a bit more consistent
in their messages so would the health
secretary be more specific today
can you secretary of state spell out how
if not when
lockdown will start to be lifted and if
you won't tell us
why not the pressure on the nhs remains
huge and we've got to get that case
straight down
but of course i understand why the
yearning people have
everybody wants to have a timeline for
that but i think most people understand
why
it is difficult to put a timeline on it
because it's a matter of
monitoring the data and the facts but
there are costs to the weight too
in cheshire dan wright's vehicles are
parked up in the snow instead of out on
the road
self-employed he's had to apply for
benefits money's running tight
all the future works been cancelled we
have no
income whatsoever we still have yard
rent pay we still have
business loans on the vehicles
unfortunately without any help
we can't continue there are signs
lockdowns starting to control the deadly
disease
but the numbers and the risks are still
so high three weeks in
no certain end laura kunsberg bbc news
westminster
parents in england will be told as soon
as possible when schools can reopen
that was the prime minister's response
as we heard when asked to provide more
certainty
for teachers parents and pupils alike mr
johnson said he understood why people
wanted a timetable
but he didn't want to lift restrictions
while the infection rate was still
very high in his words and he would not
guarantee
that schools would reopen before the
easter break
in april there's growing concern about
the effect that the school closures are
having
as our education editor brahman
jefferies has been finding out
the decimal point okay schools in
england are busier this lockdown
the fears about children missing out
have grown
but millions like ten-year-old katarina
are learning at home
she says her teachers help a lot but day
after day without friends
is hard at school they're always there
and you can always laugh and cheer with
them
um you can call them and play with them
online and stuff but it's never going to
be the same
as in real life head teachers should get
two weeks warning of full reopening but
say they need
to know more to get ready we need to
know are we testing and if we are
testing
who are we testing which test we need to
know
how many children are coming back to
school is it all
children or is it certain year groups
like exam groups
is it going to be full time is it going
to be part-time
is it going to be on a rotation all of
these things are
absolutely crucial for running a school
today not much more detail from the
education secretary
students want to see all children back
into school at the very earliest moment
the government said again today that
reopening schools fully
is its top priority as soon as it's safe
to do so
but for millions of families this has
become one of those
touchstone issues for parents trying to
get work done at home
and keep an eye on their kids schoolwork
who
just want to know how much longer will
they have to manage
but the political heat over schools is
increasing
leading mps calling for a clear plan
what i'd like to understand is what are
the
risks to children and staff i think the
chief medical
officer should set out what impact does
the new variant
had and if it if as the chief deputy
chief medical officer said that
it's relatively low then surely this
must be one of the conditions
met in terms of children going back to
school
from this warehouse laptops are going to
schools
more than 800 000 said to be delivered
so far
but being able to connect is one thing
not everyone has a place
and parental support to study research
from the first
lockdown found that um
disadvantaged young people were less
likely to
or likely to have fewer hours of online
learning
and on average um around 73 to 75
minutes
less time engaging with learning
than their more affluent peers
katarina has parents willing and able to
support her
but as long as schools are mainly closed
others
may be falling even further behind
brownman jeffries bbc news