Harrow School in London closes after pupil tests positive for coronavirus

LONDON: One of the UK’s most prestigious boarding schools has closed after a pupil tested positive for coronavirus.
Harrow School in north-west London, which teaches boys aged 13 to 18, has stopped all lessons and the 830 pupils who board are being sent home, the Daily Mail reported.
Students will instead be taught online until the end of the current term.
The headmaster of the £41,000-a-year school said in a letter to parents that a student who returned home to avoid a quarantine restriction had tested positive for COVID-19.
Some members of the teaching and non-teaching staff are also self-isolating at home in line with UK government advice.
The letter also stated that a number of students were showing symptoms related to coronavirus.
“The number of boys presenting with the symptoms associated with COVID-19 and the nature of boarding life at Harrow have led us to conclude with regret that the school cannot continue to operate until the end of term,” the letter said.
“This decision has been taken exclusively because it is no longer possible to adequately operate the support necessary for full boarding.”
Harrow is considered one of the most elite boarding schools in the UK.
King Ghazi bin Faisal, who ruled Iraq from 1933 to 1939, and Jordan’s King Abdullah II are among it’s alumni.
The closure comes as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday that the government would be taking decisions imminently on the possible closure of schools, with some forced to partially or fully close due to the spread of coronavirus.
Currently, head-teachers are being forced to make unilateral decisions about closing as they struggle to cope amid rising staff and student absences.

Harrow School in London closes after pupil tests positive for coronavirus