Coronavirus in Scotland: FM backs Swinney amid results row - BBC News
Nicola Sturgeon backs her education secretary as she concedes that on this year's results "we did not get this right".
The UK government is saying today that there's little evidence of coronavirus being transmitted in schools.

The evidence is clear that children are much less likely to become very ill from coronavirus than adults, particularly older adults. What role they play in spreading the virus to others, though, is less clear.

A few studies around the world using contact tracing have suggested children are less likely to pass the virus on, but the evidence so far is fairly weak.

In countries where schools have already reopened, cases don’t seem to have risen significantly - though this may be telling us how well the schools are being managed rather than anything about children’s natural ability to transmit the virus.

And schools don’t just bring children together – teachers, parents at school gates and other knock-on effects like increased use of public transport or more carers being able to go back to work could also influence the spread of the virus.

A UK study predicted what might happen once you include all those factors, and suggested schools could contribute to a second wave if our contact tracing system isn't good enough. It assumed children were half as likely as adults to pass on the virus.

This is only modelling but it’s a good illustration of the problem. Though we haven’t solved the question of whether children are biologically less capable of passing on the virus, the safety of reopening schools depends on other factors - including the strength of the contact tracing system and how well social distancing can be managed.