Coronavirus diary, Thursday 6 August

The decision of the four governments that all children will go back to full time schooling in September is probably the hardest they have had to make.

So much depends on it. It could be decisive in halting the ominously persistent spread of Covid-19 across the world. 

The view is shared by countries throughout the world who are making the same move. 

As in the pandemic in general, there are two related issues, health and the economy.

In possible future lockdowns, if a choice has to be made which is more important keeping shops, pubs and restaurants open or getting schools back to normal, when it comes to young people's future there seems to be little doubt.

England's Children's Commissioner Anne Longfield says schools should be the last places to be shut. The RCPC (Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health) warns, 'Continued closure of schools risks scarring the life chances of a generation of young people'.

It is a decision which, for the prime minister in particular, needs to be the correct one.

He and the Education Minister for England, Gavin Williamson, have been so often criticised for lack of decisiveness and they need to be proved right this time.

Kirsty Williams

Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford and his Education Minister Kirsty Williams are determined to get all 400,000 primary to secondary school pupils back and are taking on 900 more teachers to help them make up for lost time. 

A spanner in the works could be the reaction of teachers' unions who insist it is their duty to ensure it is safe.

In Wales parents have been reassured that while it would be wrong to say there was no risk 'on balance, it's right'. Kirsty Williams said that  parents will not be fined if they decide not to let their children return.

Pupils with most cause for concern over the past four months are those who were due to take exams. Scotland has just announced results based on records and teachers' assessments. Twenty five percent of the results have been downgraded, leading to a likely flood of appeals.

Wales has the same plan.

These next three weeks will be an anxious time for parents, children, teenagers and the governments.