THERE has been another significant rise in the number of staff and students off school in Worcestershire because of Covid.

A total of 4,373 staff and pupils are currently self isolating in 52 of the county schools, as of July 7, Worcestershire County Council said.

And the authority said there had been 104 bubbles or partial bubbles that had been forced to collapse due to either a positive coronavirus test result, or as a precautionary measure because a case is suspected.

The figures are up from July 1, when the county said 3,422 staff and pupils had been self-isolating from 40 of Worcestershire’s schools, with 71 bubbles or partial bubbles forced to collapse.

Earlier this week Education Secretary, Gavin Williamson, announced the use of “bubbles” in schools was to be scrapped as part of the lifting of restrictions from July 19.

The Worcester News approached a number of city schools asking how many coronavirus cases they had, and the number self isolating.

Worcester Sixth Form College said: "We have 10 students currently isolating having had a positive home or PCR test. Most of these were isolating anyway due to contact outside of college or with a member of the household having had a confirmed case.

"Two cases required college contacts to be isolated and 25 students are isolating as a result."

New College Worcester said it had no students who are self-isolating as a result of positive cases.

Schools that did not get back before out deadline were Nunnery Wood, Bishop Perowne, Blessed Edward, Christopher Whitehead, RGS, Kings, Regency, Riversides, Chantry and Norton College.

Hanley Castle said it had four confirmed cases, with 78 self-isolating.

The school's headteacher, Lindsay Cooke, said: "The current guidelines, including the requirement for children who have had contact with confirmed cases to self-isolate, have been intensely frustrating for parents, but their impact has been to keep schools in Worcestershire extremely safe.

"At Hanley Castle, for example, there have been absolutely no cases of in-school transmission, meaning that parents, even those parents who have children who are clinically vulnerable, or clinically extremely vulnerable, have felt confident to continue sending them to school.

"Infection rates during this third wave will not peak until August and will remain high in September. When children return to school, they will be tested twice during their first week using lateral flow devices. These are not 100% accurate - around 70% of children who actually have Coronavirus will be identified and return home. Coronavirus is not a serious illness, but this is not always the case for children who are clinically vulnerable, or clinically extremely vulnerable.

"For all of these reasons, I would hope very much that the government strengthens the guidance it issued, if only for the first few weeks of term when the risks will be highest."

Earlier this week we reported that there been 15 positive lateral flow tests, and one positive staff test at Tudor Grange Academy with a number of pupils self isolating, with one parent saying the situation had "got out of hand".