but it is still there and other indicators have been rising as well, just because there are so many people infected in the community. the final point i would make on that as we are seeing up here in scotland and i would suspect elsewhere in the uk that because there is so much infection and the vaccines are not 100% protective we are actually seeing an increase in the proportion of older, vulnerable adults in hospital with covid 19 and that is something we all wish to avoid. so, how do you read where we are in terms of the number of cases, the impact of those cases, which you have already talked somewhat about in terms of health but also the impact in terms of practicality and on society and on well being and where we should be going forward? because, obviously, we can bring into that picture that study today by oxford university on isolation in schools and identifying that actually daily testing is just as effective as
may be just as effective as class bubbles to control transmission of covid in schools according to a study by oxford university. more than a million children in england were forced to stay away from school last week for covid related reasons. 0ur health correspondent, naomi grimley has more. the isolating of bubbles in schools has caused no end of frustration in this pandemic. last thursday, for example, more than a million state school pupils in england did not attend class for covid 19 related reasons. of those, more than 900,000 were self isolating, due to a possible contact with a case. but a new study by oxford university suggests that if daily lateral flow testing is done in school over seven days, it s just as good at preventing transmission as isolating pupils at home. what we see here is that for people in schools and colleges, the chance of getting infected with covid 19 when there has been a case in the school or college is low, less than 2%, one in 50.