Covid: Conservative MP David Davis expects government will reverse policy over face masks in schools

Conservative MP David Davis spoke to GB News Tom Harwood and Mercy Muroki in an interview about the extra Covid safety measures which have come into place in schools, as the Government is set to review its Plan B restrictions for England.

The policies include the reintroduction of face coverings in classrooms for students in year 7 and above and all secondaries have been asked to provide an on-site test for students ahead of their return to the classroom.

Speaking to GB News, David Davis said he expects the government will reverse the decision over face masks in schools: "Will they reverse the policy? This time I think they will."

"With what's going on with the with the pupils in schools I think is the government is trying to avoid the problem it's already seeing in the health service, which is the staff."

When discussing the reintroduction of face coverings, David Davis said: "Ok, let's go with this, but let's be very clear to keep an eye on it and stop requiring masks the moment the evidence indicates we can relax on it."

"They probably help a bit, but they they certainly are not a solution to the problem. I think there's relatively strong evidence that they do help decrease the spread, but not by a maybe a huge huge amount" said David Davis.

An additional 7,000 air cleaning units will be provided to schools, colleges and early years settings to improve ventilation in teaching spaces.

And 12 to 15-year-olds are being encouraged to get fully vaccinated with two jabs and 16 and 17-year-olds are now eligible for a booster dose.

With data still trickling in from the festive period, the extent to which the highly-transmissible Omicron variant will pile pressure on the NHS in the coming weeks is not yet clear.

A further 137,583 lab-confirmed Covid-19 cases were recorded in England and Wales as of 9am on Sunday, the Government said.

This was down on the 162,572 cases recorded in England alone on Saturday.

Toughened coronavirus measures in schools will be in place "for as short a period as possible", the Education Secretary has promised in an interview with GB News, as staff shortages were feared across the sector.

Nadhim Zahawi has told headteachers to consider merging classes or sending groups of children home if the number of staff off work due to Covid reaches critical levels.

But he said it was key to keep children in the classroom as much as possible and to keep schools open due to the mental health impacts.