CONCERNED parents are calling for the temporary closure of a Scots school as more than 200 pupils and staff were in self-isolation after a Covid outbreak.
Several children have tested positive at Taylor High School, the six-year Roman Catholic comprehensive secondary school in New Stevenson, Motherwell and have been sent home to self-isolate.
It is understood a large number of pupils and staff were identified as close contacts after contact tracing was carried out.
There are believed to be more than 200 people in quarantine.
It comes as another North Lanarkshire school, Our Lady's High School in Cumbernauld has also had a Covid-19 outbreak where several pupils are also self-isolating.
Health chiefs have said the school will remain open, despite appeals for some to close it to allow time to recover.
One father said: "What's bothering me is the comments and the feedback that my kids have given me, [that] the whole of S5 and S6 have been decimated by having to isolate.
"One of my child's friends - they commented that through no fault of their own, they're on their third isolation period."
The father told Clyde 1: "The kids have commented about the teachers seem to be dropping like flies.
"There's at least two if not three departments down to single figure teaching levels.
"The school should be closed for a period of time - two weeks, maybe three weeks - to allow everybody to recover, to put in a break from the virus."
But Martin Donaghy, NHS Lanarkshire consultant in public health medicine, said the school would not be shut.
He said: "NHS Lanarkshire’s Test and Protect team has carried out contact tracing after individuals at Our Lady’s High School in Cumbernauld and Taylor High School in Motherwell tested positive for Covid-19.
"They are currently self-isolating at home. NHS Lanarkshire is working closely with North Lanarkshire Council with regards to these cases and has now contacted all close contacts.
"Public health advice has been given to these individuals and they are being told to self-isolate. The schools will remain open as normal."
A spokesperson for North Lanarkshire Council said: "We are doing all we can to keep our schools open and running as normally as possible.
"We are working closely with NHS Lanarkshire’s Test and Protect team to ensure our staff and pupils are kept safe.
"We communicate directly with pupils, parents and staff to inform them of any developments within their school and continue to ask people to keep safe and stick to the guidance to prevent the further spread of coronavirus."
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