PUPILS at a school who have just returned from a trip to northern Italy have been told they do not need to self-isolate - and have been in classes today.

A number of pupils and staff at Alvechurch CofE Middle School have been on a skiing trip in northern Italy.

They returned on Saturday.

However, those pupils and teachers were not required to self-isolate for two weeks, and so have been in school today.

A letter had been sent out to parents of youngsters at the school last week, reportedly reassuring them.

A spokesperson for Alvechurch Middle School said: "We are following the Public Health guidance for returning travellers from that region and as a precaution have ensured that this guidance has been shared with parents.”

The Advertiser reported last week that Woodrush High School in Wythall had asked pupils and staff to self-isolate as a precaution.

Members of Woodrush who attended a skiing trip to Falcade in Veneto in northern Italy during half term were told to stay at home for two weeks.

In a statement, the Sawhurst Lane school said: "Following advice and conversations with Public Health England, as a precautionary measure we have directed those who attended the trip to self-isolate for 2 weeks.

"These precautionary measures only apply to those who have directly been on this trip.

"Public Health England have also advised us to remain open at this time as risk to other students and staff is minimal.

"The well-being of our students and staff and our local community remain our priority and we will continue to communicate with parents and carers if there are any updates in the on-going development of the advice given by Public Health England.

It comes as schools could close for more than two months if the coronavirus outbreak becomes a pandemic, the Chief Medical Officer warned.

Chris Whitty said that there could be a "social cost" if the virus intensifies resulting in a reduction of mass gatherings, which would see the closure of schools.

Whitty, who is also Chief Medical Adviser to the UK Government, said: "One of the things that’s really clear with this virus, much more so than flu, is that anything we do we’re going to have to do for quite a long period of time, probably more than two months.

“The implications of that are non-trivial, so we need to think that through carefully.

“This is something we face as really quite a serious problem for society potentially if this goes out of control. It may not but if it does globally then we may have to face that.”

He added that the UK would not be exempt in the event of a global pandemic.