DAILY testing is just as effective as isolating school children, in controlling the spread of Covid-19 according to an Oxford study.

The University of Oxford study ran between April and June, with more than 200,000 students and 20,000 staff from 201 secondary schools and colleges taking part.

They were split into two groups, with half the schools continuing the standard policy of routine mass testing and isolation for close contacts of positive cases.

The second group invited close contacts of positive cases to schools, to take lateral flow tests.

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Those who chose to do so were released from isolation to attend school and college if they tested negative for coronavirus.

The study revealed that 1.5 per cent of contacts in the daily testing group tested positive, with 1.6 per cent of the isolating group returning positive tests.

The study suggests daily testing may reduce the rate of Covid-19 cases in schools by one a month, per school of 1,000 students.

Tim Peto, professor of medicine at the University of Oxford, and principal investigator on the study, said: “Our findings indicate that there is no significant difference in Covid-19 transmission between schools where bubbles were sent into home isolation versus those where daily contact testing was implemented instead.

“Infection rates in the close contacts were low in general, and there was little difference between those who went to school following a negative lateral flow test and those who were isolating at home.”

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Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser for NHS Test and Trace, added: “This is a major breakthrough, showing that daily contact testing can keep young people in classrooms instead of making them isolate at home.

“Children and parents have made enormous personal sacrifices throughout this pandemic by isolating when needed, and we all know the disruption it has caused in their lives.

“We’ve been trying to find safe alternatives, and this study gives us evidence of safe alternatives to isolation for school contacts.

“So far, self-isolation has been one of the most effective tools at our disposal against COVID-19 – stopping isolated cases from becoming major outbreaks.

“To have another potential tool like this is great news.

“Trailblazing studies like this are only possible because of the collective efforts of the scientific community and the participation of huge numbers of schools and colleges, parents and teachers, and we are hugely grateful and want to thank every person and organisation that has made this research possible.”