Schools are closed to all except the children of key workers as the coronavirus outbreak continues. Exams have been cancelled and some universities and colleges are hosting online classes.

Speaking at the daily coronavirus press conference Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said there were currently no plans to reopen schools and apologised for the disruption.

The number of deaths in hospitals in the UK has now topped 16,000, with thousands more expected in care homes.

The Department of Health said a total of 16,060 had died in hospitals as of 5pm on Saturday, up by 596 from the day before.

In a direct address to the nation’s schoolchildren, Mr Williamson said: “To any young people watching, I wanted to say to you how sorry I am that you’ve had your education disrupted in this way.

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“I know how hard it must be, and I’d like to thank you for making the adjustments that you’ve had to make.

“I know you will be missing your friends, your teachers, your lessons.

“I want you to know that you are such an important part of this fight too, and I cannot thank you enough for all that you are doing.”

On when schools will be able to reopen Mr Williamson said there were certain criteria the Government must meet.

Mr Williamson said: “People are anxious to know when we’re going to relax restrictions when schools are likely to be fully back and open again.

“Of course, I want nothing more than to see schools back, get them back to normal, make sure the children are sat around, learning, and experiencing the joy of being at school.

“But I can’t give you a date.

“Because before we do, we need to meet five tests.”

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What are the five tests Government must meet before opening schools?

In the daily coronavirus press conferences, the five steps which must be met before relaxing lockdown measures have been spoken about frequently.

Explaining the five tests on Sunday Mr Williamson said: “First we must protect the NHS’s ability to cope, and be sure that it can continue to provide critical care and specialist treatment right across the whole of the United Kingdom.

“Second, we need to see daily death rates from coronavirus coming down.

“Third, we need to have reliable data that shows the rate of infection is decreasing to manageable levels.

“Four, we need to be confident that testing capacity and PPE is being managed, with supply able to meet, not just today’s demand, but future demand.

“And fifth, and perhaps most crucially, we need to be confident that any changes we do make will not risk a second peak of infections.

“When we can be sure that we have met these five essential points, we can think about getting children into schools again, learning, mastering new ideas and being with their friends once more.”

On Thursday, the lockdown across the UK was extended for a further three weeks, with Secretary of State Dominic Raab reiterating the danger of lifting restrictions too early.

Mr Raab, who is deputising for Prime Minister Boris Johnson as he recovers from COVID-19, said easing the lockdown too early could trigger a second peak of the virus.

At the time of writing, cases in the UK had reached 120,067.

Deaths had climbed to more than 16,000 on Sunday.

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