LONDON – British students, backed by a robust coronavirus testing program, are gearing up to return to school Monday after a two-month closure, in what Prime Minister Boris Johnson says is a plan to get the country “moving closer to a sense of normality.” The reopening of schools is the first step in the U.K.
government's plan to gradually ease COVID-19 restrictions as the country's vaccination drive gains critical mass, with all restrictions lifted by June.
As part of the plan, millions of high school and college students coming back to U.K. classrooms will be tested for the virus for the first few weeks.
Authorities want to quickly detect and isolate asymptomatic cases in order to avoid sending entire schools home. “We are being