SCHOOL pupils and teachers could soon be tested for coronavirus.

University students are already being offered testing for Covid-19 before they travel home for the Christmas period.

All students have been asked to travel home by December 9 at the latest and some universities are trialling testing before campuses empty.

Now, the body which advices the Welsh Government has advised that school children, college students and staff should also be given access to mass testing.

New evidence suggests that’s pupils are more likely to transmit the virus and schools being open is ‘associated with higher rates of infection in the population’, although the ‘precise mechanism for this, and the direction of transmission, remains unclear’.

The Welsh Government’s Technical Advisory Group (TAG), which advises ministers, said asymptomatic testing in schools would help “maintain confidence” in the sector.

In its review into children under the age of 18, TAG said in its recommendations that consideration should be given to ‘exploring the feasibility of mass asymptomatic testing programmes’ to enhance infection control and ‘maintain confidence to students, parents and staff’.

It went on to say: “The development of any testing programme should take into consideration background infection rates, the full spectrum of available testing technologies, the context of community testing and balance of strategic priority and testing capacity.”