Covid: Leicestershire's schools second-highest for positive tests
- Published
Leicestershire schools have the second-highest rate of young people testing positive with Covid-19 in England, a study has shown.
The county has an estimated 2.25% of pupils aged five to 14 who are thought to have caught the virus in schools since the start of September.
A total of 2,704 people in the age group returned positive tests this month, compared to 1,741 in August.
Only North Northamptonshire has a higher percentage at 2.48%.
The report by Colin Bellamy, a data analyst working on the Open Data for Safer Schools project, examined the government's UK Coronavirus Dashboard, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).
At the current rate of infection, it estimates around 11,000 Leicestershire pupils will be infected with the virus over the next 16 days.
Schools in the city of Leicester have a lower rate of infection, however, with 951 cases so far since September compared to 788 in August.
Mike Sandys, Leicestershire County Council's director of public health, said the county's schools returning to classes earlier than in other parts of the country is likely to be behind the Covid rates here rising earlier than in other areas.
He said there has been good engagement with testing in schools finding asymptomatic cases, adding he was pleased children were "doing the right thing by testing".
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