Council reveals over 7,000 Milton Keynes school pupils and 400 staff are isolating going into Christmas break

This newspaper requested the latest figures of students and staff who have been forced to self-isolate due to Covid-19 - information was requested about 27 MK schools.

The following data was provided by MK Council and is accurate as of 5pm on Thursday (December 17): 7,099 pupils and 407 school staff are currently isolating.

In all cases where pupils have been at home, online teaching and remote learning is in place, a council spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added that the above figures include situations where schools have moved to online teaching due to, for example, staff shortages.

There was the highest ever number of new Covid cases in Milton Keynes recorded yesterday (Thursday), the day the city learned it would be put into Tier 3 restrictions. Read the full story here.