Coronavirus: 'A test the government must pass' - ministers urged to prioritise testing in schools

The coronavirus testing regime must be improved or the government risks "throwing away" the progress made by reopening schools, the Children's Commissioner for England has warned.

Anne Longfield has called it a test ministers "cannot afford not to pass".

"The PM and Chief Medical Officer [Chris Whitty] have said schools are a priority - they must be the last to close, the first to open," she told The Sun.

"But they can't now throw those achievements away by not having tests in place."

The situation could soon become critical if students and staff are forced out of the classroom when suspected coronavirus cases worsen in the winter months, Ms Longfield said.

"A lot of problems come because teachers are showing symptoms and therefore need to be tested and this affects the schools, especially small ones, because there comes a point when you can't run a school because there aren't enough staff," she told the BBC.

"That's going to be really difficult for teachers to be able to manage if they don't have the test and don't have the back-up they need to make those really difficult decisions.

"This is a test for government that they cannot afford not to pass."

Those fears echoed a survey of schools which revealed on Friday that more than 80% of schools in England currently have children not in class because they cannot access a COVID-19 test.

Public Health England's weekly coronavirus report suggested cases of the common cold among students, back at school since earlier this month, may be inflating suspected coronavirus figures.

The National Education Union (NEU) wrote to Boris Johnson on Sunday asking ministers to take emergency measures to make sure schools and colleges stay safe.

It warned the prime minister the testing regime needed to be increased and improved.

The government has failed, the NEU's letter said, to ensure that testing is sufficiently available to meet "the predictable need when 12 million children and their staff returned to school in England".

A government spokesperson said: "Schools and teachers have gone to extraordinary lengths to get children back into school, with over 99.9% of schools open with the vast majority of pupils attending.

"Where staff or children have symptoms, testing capacity is the highest it has ever been, and we are working to provide further priority access for teachers.

"Schools only need to identify close contacts and ask them to self-isolate if and when a case is confirmed from a positive test result.

"Close contacts of confirmed cases must follow the full 14-day self-isolation period and should only seek a test if they have symptoms."