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Schools across the UK could shut down for a month from next Friday and teachers have been told to prepare home-learning kits for their students.

Boris Johnson will chair a meeting of Cobra on Thursday and is expected to sign off moving the UK to the next phase of fighting coronavrus - switching from contain to delay.

Now Covid-19 has breached containment teachers across the country have been told to prepare packs so pupils can learn at home, reports The Mirror .

Schools are also drawing up lists of which students do and don't have internet access at home so work can be set and completed remotely.

The closure on March 20 would continue through the Easter holiday - meaning schools could be shut for four weeks.

The Government may consider shortening the Easter break, or cancelling May half-term, in a bid to make up the lost learning days.

Workers are expected to go into schools during the shutdown to perform deep cleans.

In Wales, the Welsh Government is advising schools on the disease and how to prevent it.

They say: "If a confirmed case occurs in an educational setting the local Health Protection Team will provide advice and will work with the head teacher, principal and or management team of that setting.



"Outside those that are defined as close contacts, the rest of the school, childcare or education setting does not need to take any precautions or make any changes to their own activities attending establishments or work as usual, unless they become unwell."



The latest advice is likely to be updated on Thursday afternoon when a press conference is held.

One teacher said: “We have had guidance from our head of the academy who has been told to expect at least a week-long closure, possibly two.

“If schools are closed from mid-March, it wouldn’t make sense to open them up again so close to Easter. We’re preparing for a month at home.

“The home-learning packs have to be all ready by this Friday, with the aim of sending them home with the kids the following Friday.”

Some schools start their Easter breaks on March 27, others will break up a week later unless the enforced closure is enacted.

If it happens, the two week closure would be followed by two weeks of holiday - unless half the Easter break is scrapped.

Another teacher at a school in the north of England said they had been ordered to get emergency plans underway.

They told the Mirror: “We have been told an extended Easter break is a very real possibility if the virus spread continues at the predicted rate.

“We are now preparing for that eventuality. But this will not mean two weeks’ extra holiday.

“Schools in our local authority area - both primary and secondary – are drawing up plans for children to be given lessons at home.

“This will come in the shape of material drawn up by staff in advance in the form of set work from the curriculum on paper and also online work.

“Schools are drawing up lists of all children who have access to the internet at home even if it is via a parent or guardian’s phone.

“This is the best option as work can be submitted and marked by teachers also working from home.

“We have also been told that schools will also undergo a deep clean to ensure there is no chance of any lingering traces of the virus.”

More than 240,000 people have signed a petition calling on the government to shut down schools across the UK.

The petition, started by Sami Attout, urges Boris Johnson to announce the closures to prevent the spread of Covid19.

#closetheschools was trending on social media as people raised their fears about the spread of the virus in school buildings.

Earlier this week London mayoral candidate Rory Stewart demanded schools close to protect Britons.

The ex-cabinet minister said the government should not shy away from taking an economic hit if it means safeguarding the population.

Boris Johnson is set to sign off on moving the UK into the delay phase for battling coronavirus during an emergency Government meeting.

When Cobra meets on Thursday lunchtime, the Prime Minister is expected to advance preparations for combating the deadly virus by switching to tactics designed to delay its spread rather than contain the disease.

It comes after the global Covid-19 outbreak was categorised as a pandemic by the World Health Organisation and eight people in the UK were confirmed to have died after contracting the illness.

What is the “delay phase”?

The delay phase will see a mixture of the same advice given out, such as encouraging the washing of hands regularly, while also introducing social restriction measures to slow the spread of the virus.

The Government has confirmed it will be guided by the experts about what the most effective measures for delaying the virus will be.

How will it help deal with the outbreak?

The end goal of the delay phase is to slow the rate of coronavirus being contracted and allow the NHS to clear the annual winter pressure it faces.

It would also provide a buffer to allow a possible vaccine to be found.

The Government’s planning document explained: “The benefits are that if the peak of the outbreak can be delayed until the warmer months, we can reduce significantly the risk of overlapping with seasonal flu and other challenges, societal or medical, that the colder months bring.

“The delay phase also buys time for the testing of drugs and initial development of vaccines and/or improved therapies or tests to help reduce the impact of the disease.”

What do they mean by social restrictions?

According to the Government’s published action plan, the restrictions being considered would have “social costs”.

These are thought to include urging employees to work from home where possible and even shutting down schools and cancelling events where masses of people will gather.

“Some of these will have social costs where the benefit of doing them to delay the peak will need to be considered against the social impact,” said the Government’s action plan.

Is it the same as what is happening in Italy and China?

The severity of the interventions have differed on a country by country basis.

China and Italy have put full scale lock downs in place, with court action and fines threatened for people breaking imposed curfews.

Wuhan, the Chinese city of 11 million people, which was at the epicentre of the initial outbreak, temporarily shut down its public transport network.

And in countries such as France and Spain, large public gatherings have been banned in a bid to prevent widespread contamination.

Are sporting events at risk?

Football matches in the European countries, including Paris Saint-Germain’s Champions League tie against Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday, have been played behind closed doors as a result of bans on gatherings of 1,000 people or more.

But there is doubt about whether the UK would follow suit after the deputy chief medical officer suggested scientific research did not back up the decision to outlaw public events.

Dr Jenny Harries, in a video exchange with the PM on Wednesday, said: “In general, those sorts of events and big gatherings are not seen to be something which is going to have a big effect, so we don’t want to disrupt people’s lives.”

Why is the UK not doing the same as Italy?

Mr Johnson suggested the decisions had come about because “politicians and governments around the world are under a lot of pressure to be seen to act, so they may do things that are not necessarily dictated by the science”.

Why has it taken so long to move from the contain phase to delay?

Ministers have regularly stated that implementing tough social clampdowns too early can prove counterproductive as the public could tire of the restrictions, but it appears the PM and his advisers feel the time is right to escalate delay preparations.

Current advice, including washing hands and catching coughs and sneezes with tissues before binning them will continue during the delay period, as will trying to find and isolate coronavirus cases at an early stage.