Coronavirus: UK schools shut until further notice from Friday

Schools in the UK will shut from Friday until further notice to combat the coronavirus pandemic, the government said on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the children of key workers such as those in the National Health Service, emergency services and delivery drivers would be exempted, although he gave no specifics on how this would work in practice

Johnson added that nurseries and private schools were being asked to follow the same advice and that the government would reimburse any costs.

Exams would not take place in May and June, but the government would make sure children get the qualifications they need, although, again, no details were forthcoming.

"The objective is to slow the spread of the virus and we judge it is the right moment to do that," Johnson told reporters

"As I’ve always said, we also need to keep the NHS going and to treat the number of rising cases. So we need health workers who are also parents to continue to go to work."

"And we need other critical workers with children to keep doing their jobs too – from police officers who are keeping us safe to the supermarket delivery drivers, social care workers who look after the elderly and who are so vital. We will be setting out more details shortly about who we mean in these groups."

Johnson also refused to rule out the possibility of a lockdown in central London similar to those witnessed in cities across Europe.

“I think a lot of people are making a real heroic effort to comply with the advice that we have given but as I’ve said tonight and in the past few days we keep everything under continuous review and we will not hesitate to bring forward further and faster measures where we think that is necessary,” he said.