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UK school forced to shut by coronavirus outbreak as 22 teachers and pupils test positive

25 August 2020, 08:36 | Updated: 25 August 2020, 08:41

A school has been closed in Dundee after a coronavirus outbreak. Picture: Google/Getty Images

Pupils and teachers in Dundee have been told to isolate for two weeks following an outbreak of Covid.

A school in Dundee has been closed for two weeks after 22 people tested positive for coronavirus.

Kingspark School reopened on August 12 with the rest of schools across Scotland, but all staff and pupils were sent home on Wednesday.

It was confirmed on Sunday by NHS Tayside that 17 staff members had caught Covid-19.

Two pupils and three community contacts also tested positive.

Kingspark School has asked all teachers and pupils to self isolate. Picture: Google

The school will be deep cleaned during the two weeks it is shut, with all 185 pupils urged to self-isolate for two weeks from Thursday, August 20.

A joint statement from NHS Tayside and Dundee City Council said: "Number of confirmed COVID-19 positive cases is made up of 17 members of staff, 2 pupils, 3 community contacts.

"The school remains closed and all staff and pupils continue to self-isolate.

"The advice issued by the IMT on Friday is all staff should self-isolate for 14 days from the last day they were on site.

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"All pupils should self-isolate for 14 days from Thursday, 20 August.”

Parents and family members who live with a pupil are also being warned to quarantine for two weeks if they can’t maintain social distancing measures.

Testing is available for all staff who work at the school, while detailed contact tracing of all positive cases continues.

Two other schools in Dundee have also been linked to the outbreak as a result of contact tracing efforts.

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Pupils in the primary school 2A class at St Peter and Paul’s School have also been asked to self-isolate until September 2.

Another positive case was traced at Downfield Primary Schools’s Happy Times after school club, with all who attended asked to quarantine for two weeks as well.

Paul Clancy, Dundee City Council Executive Director of Children and Families Services, added: “I would like to reassure families that this action is being taken to keep everyone safe.

"This is our paramount concern and we cannot be complacent.”

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