COVID-19: Schools to close across UK as deaths top 100

By Karim El-Bar

LONDON (AA) – Schools in England will close for most pupils in the country as the coronavirus death toll in the U.K. rose above 100 on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that state-run and private schools, as well as nurseries, will be closed from Friday afternoon onwards.

However, he said, children of key workers and vulnerable children will still attend school.

Key workers include National Health Service staff, police personnel, social workers, and delivery drivers.

The government will also introduce a voucher scheme for children eligible for free school meals.

Exams for secondary schools will be cancelled, while schools will remain closed until further notice.

Scotland and Wales had previously decided to close schools from Friday.

In Northern Ireland, schools are set to close from Monday.

The measures come as the death toll from the coronavirus outbreak in the U.K. reached 104, according to authorities.

Earlier on Wednesday, the U.K. Department of Health and Social Care announced that the number of positive coronavirus cases increased by over 676 in 24 hours.

“Across the UK, there have been 56,221 concluded tests of which 53,595 were confirmed negative, and 2,626 positive,” the department said in a statement.

The famous Glastonbury Festival, which was to mark its 50th anniversary this year, was also postponed on Wednesday.

British supermarkets, including Sainsbury's and Asda, introduced restrictions on the amount of certain items -- including food, toiletries, and cleaning products -- customers can buy.

They said there was no issue in their supply chains, but the measures were necessary so everyone had the opportunity to buy essentials.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared Europe the new epicenter of the coronavirus, which first emerged in Wuhan, China, last December.

According to WHO data, the virus has now spread to 164 countries and territories, and there were over 194,000 cases and nearly 7,900 fatalities around the world by Wednesday evening.