Nursery World - Covid cases rising again in early years settings

The number of reported incidents of cases of Coronavirus more than doubled during a two-week period last month, official statistics reveal.

From next month, children will be required to take Covid tests only if they come into contact with a positive case PHOTO Adobe Stock

Reports by early years and childcare settings to Ofsted of incidents of coronavirus rose from 269 incidents for the week starting 7 June, to 396 the week of the 14 June, and 643 for the week starting 21 June.

However, this is much lower than a peak of 2,384 reports for the week of 1 February 2021.

The statistics reveal that the number of reports dropped at the end of May, before rising again.

Each report is a notification by a setting of an incidence of at least one positive Covid test in the nursery, pre-school or childminder setting.

No data is published on the number of individual cases among staff and children in a setting, meaning that the number of individual positive test cases among staff and/or children could potentially be much higher.

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