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Coronavirus news – live: Boris Johnson U-turns on advice against face masks in schools as government considers 'rota system' for pupils in local lockdowns

YONHAP/AFP via Getty Images
YONHAP/AFP via Getty Images

Boris Johnson has dropped advice against face coverings in English schools after coming under pressure from unions, opposition parties and schools.

It comes after a headteachers’ union in England said that while “evidence is clearly evolving on this issue”, the government should keep in step with the World Health Organisation and Scotland.

Holyrood’s education secretary John Swinney has said wearing face masks will be mandatory in Scottish secondary schools hours ahead of Westminster.

It comes amid fears that immunity from coronavirus may last only a few months, after the world’s first re-infected patient was discovered in Hong Kong. The man fought off one strain of Covid-19 only to catch a second four months later.