Dumfries and Galloway Council set to approve £1 million budget to manage coronavirus school closures

Chorlton High South, Eden Girls Leadership Academy, Parrs Wood High School and Wright Robinson College. However, the start of the new term has been delayed for Manchester's secondary school pupils due to high rates of coronavirus infection.

MSPs have been recalled to the Scottish Parliament for an announcement on whether to keep schools closed for the rest of January.Nicola Sturgeon will chair an emergency meeting of the cabinet this morning ahead of the statement this afternoon.The First Minister is aiming to provide an outline on what more will be done to reduce Covid-19 infection rates across the country after huge surge in cases over the festive period.All of mainland Scotland has been in Tier 4 coronavirus restrictions since

Members agreed to some changes which will take effect for May’s Scottish Parliament elections, including moving Applegarth’s polling station to Lockerbie.An additional paper will be presented to members in the new year on any further changes, with the council’s chief executive, Gavin Stevenson, saying there would be a “full consultation after the Scottish Parliament elections”.

First Minister has summoned an emergency cabinet meeting this Monday morning and will recall MSPs to hear a statement on the covid crisis in the afternoon.The cabinet is certain to consider keeping schools closed for the rest of January and the possible return of restrictions that are closer to the stay-at-home lockdown in March.Schools re-open this week for children of key workers and vulnerable children.

direct to your inboxHeadteachers fear they may not have enough staff to reopen next week, a council boss has said.Eamonn O'Brien, leader of Bury Council, said many schools are 'nervous' about beginning the spring term on Monday because of the ongoing row over closures.The government has said primary schools in most Tier 4 areas should reopen as planned, despite rapidly increasing coronavirus infection rates across the country.Only primaries in London where the new strain of Covid-19 has driven a

Heat on U.S. social media platforms is now blowing from Russia whose lower house of parliament inked a series of bills this week cracking down on sites that Moscow says discriminate against its media.

UK health secretary Matt Hancock announced yesterday that the Oxford-AstraZeneca had been approved for use in the UK.The first of 100 million doses – enough to vaccinate 50 million people – are due to be administered on Monday.

fast-spreading form of coronavirus, first detected earlier this month.In a statement at Holyrood, she said: "This new strain appears to be fast becoming the dominant one circulating in Scotland - and that is obviously a cause for real concern, given that it is thought to be significantly more transmissible."As I indicated before Christmas, the severity of this challenge means we can't rule out the need for restrictions that are even tighter than those in the current level 4."Sturgeon spoke after

Get the stories that matter to you sent straight to your inbox with our daily newsletter.A further 92 people in Dumfries and Galloway have tested positive for coronavirus.It takes the total since the start of the pandemic to 1,591 and comes on the back of 106 confirmed cases yesterday.The significant increase is due to an outbreak in Wigtownshire involving the highly transmissible B.1.1.7 variant.Health board officials revealed yesterday there had been 221 positive cases in the district since

The total number of cases of the coronavirus in Dumfries and Galloway is now 1,327 after a further 18 cases were confirmed today.

straight to your inbox every day for freeMauricio Pochettino is reportedly in line to become the new manager of Paris Saint-Germain after Thomas Tuchel was sacked on Christmas Eve.Tuchel leaves the Parisian club one point behind league leaders Lyon and with PSG having secured their spot in the last 16 of the Champions League, eliminating Manchester United in the process, earlier this month.The MEN understands United approached Pochettino about the possibility of taking over as the new United

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Phil Robertson and Alyssa Milano are sounding off about the latest coronavirus package because they believe it doesn't provide nearly enough relief to Americans. The Senate on Monday aligned with the House and passed the $900 billion COVID-19 relief package and government funding plan.

“It’s just another example of border communities being forgotten about when decisions are made by governments in Edinburgh and London.”The previous easing period from December 23 until 27 has been scrapped with orders now in place for a maximum of eight adults from up to three households allowed to meet indoors on Christmas Day only. But advice is to limit numbers indoors in your own household and meet others outdoors only.

In Scotland, there were 1,504 new cases today, partly down to a processing backlog. It takes the national total since the pandemic to 113,050.There are 1,078 peple in hospital with 59 in intensive care.