More at:COVID-19: 375,000 school pupils absent over virus
The number of children off school due to COVID-19 in England is at its highest rate since schools reopened in March, latest government figures show.
Data released by the Department of Education shows around 5.1% of all pupils in state-funded schools did not attend school for COVID-19 related reasons on 24 June - a total of 375,000 children.
This is up from 3.3% on 17 June and 1.2% on 10 June.
In primary schools, 4.5% of children did not attend due to virus-related reasons on 24 June, up from 2.7% on 17 June and 1.1% on 10 June.
In total, 24,000 children were off with suspected cases of coronavirus and 15,000 stayed at home after testing positive.
The majority of absentees, 279,000 students, were self-isolating due to potential contact with a COVID-19 case from inside their educational setting.
In comparison, 57,000 were isolating after potentially coming into contact with a person who tested positive for the virus from outside their school, which is around 0.8% of all pupils in state-funded schools in England.
https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/finance/ne ... EgdDuqY2vi
The original story from The Telegraph but I'm not a subscriber:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/0 ... -returned/