this is bbc news. the headlines. a spectacular start to the olympic games with the opening ceremony under way now more than 11,000 athletes from more than 200 countries will compete. thousands of workers in the food supply chain in england no longer need to isolate if pinged by the covid app, as long as they test negative. and, daily testing for pupils is just as effective at controlling covid in schools as self isolation, according to new research. a high courtjudge rules there should be a new investigation into whether state agencies could have prevented the 0magh bombing in 1998. and surfing will make its 0lympic debut at the tokyo games, as a0 thrill seeking
having large numbers of people isolating. 0n the first one, governments around the uk are making decisions and what they re doing is balancing not only the direct harms of this virus but the other harms of the long period of restrictions, mental health, social and economic impacts and that is why you are seeing slightly different decisions by different governments around different parts of the country and that is for the policymakers to decide but i guess the point is that the virus has by no means gone away and is causing deaths every day still, now, in the uk. 0n the school study, this is really important research and the first thing i want to emphasises how difficult it is to do this kind of research, randomising the schools and encouraging young people to participate in the results are very encouraging and i think provide an example of real world experimental research which can give us guidance of the other harms ijust mentioned.
i am really confident that what this study shows us daily testing of contacts is a safe thing to do in schools and colleges. the researchers believe daily contact testing like this can help reduce school absences. but can schools cope with this kind of intensive testing done on site? it very difficult. we ve made it work before. i m sure with the help of my support staff we can make it work again, but we need to know exactly what is expected of us and we need to know as soon as possible. but we need clarity, we need consistency, we need our kids in school and the staff to be able to teach them. some experts worry whether lateral flow tests will detect enough positive cases, especially when infections are running high. but government advisers say the research is a breakthrough, considering how much learning has already been disrupted. naomi grimley, bbc news.
huge strains in place for some time yet. as i say, that s why the pressure on the government will continue but it s a balancing act, really, between having been able to lift restrictions and then ask economy to continue and open up but trying to keep cases of the pandemic at a sensible level so some tricky times ahead, definitely, for the government and i am sure we will see more pressure on them to either bring that date forward or provide further exemptions to other parts of the economy. fist further exemptions to other parts of the economy- the economy. at the government resnonded the economy. at the government resnonded at the economy. at the government responded at all the economy. at the government responded at all to the economy. at the government responded at all to the the economy. at the government responded at all to the oxford . responded at all to the oxford university research today on isolation in schools and the examination of the difference with daily testi
and one of the other harms is the loss of face to face learning and what this trial suggests it has weaknesses as all studies do but what it suggests is that the alternative of regular daily testing for at least seven days instead of isolation of contacts could be a viable way forward for schools. it will now be discussed by governments. i would suspect this may provide a model as we look ahead to schools we starting later this year. why limited to schools, though? why not wider society? there are other studies under way. i suppose, first of all, the government has already made that decision for some categories of employees that they won t have to self isolate if they have had the vaccines and participate in testing, which is good and we are seeing that in practice but there are other discussions going on in community and workplace settings to look at exactly this issue but i think we cannot continue in the future where actually the risk of picking up covid 19 if you are the contact