More than 40 coronavirus cases at Dudley College
Dudley College has more than 40 active coronavirus cases across its campuses.
The college confirmed the latest figures in an update posted on their website today.
It includes 10 students and two staff members at the Broadway campus, seven students at Dudley Sixth, five students and one staff member at Evolve, and five students at Advance II.
There are also four students and one staff member affected at Advance I, three students at CAT, two students at ADC and one student at Aspire.
A statement on Dudley College's website said: "We are following daily advice from Public Health England and the Department for Education in regards to isolating contacts of positive cases and ensuring any symptomatic and positive learners or staff members are following the correct government guidance.
"If we become aware of any positive cases of Covid-19 in staff or students we will immediately inform Public Health England.
"They then work with the college to determine any associated individuals at risk and what action we need to take to inform those individuals."
Students are being told not to attend college if they have any Covid-19 symptoms, or their household has been asked to self-isolate.
Any student at Dudley College who displays symptoms while on campus will be immediately isolated until they can be taken home, the college added.
Neil Thomas, chief executive officer and principal, added: “Dudley College of Technology has more than 12,000 learners and 900 staff operating across 14 sites and therefore it is to be expected that we will have some individuals who are impacted by coronavirus.
"We are reporting all cases to Public Health England who have confirmed to us that they are happy with all of the arrangements we have in place for infection control and they believe all cases we are reporting are as a result of contact in private households not as a result of transmission at college.
"We feel it is our public duty to accurately communicate the situation but are mindful not to cause undue alarm as the number of individual cases is well below the rate of infection in the general infection rate in the Dudley area.
"We will remain vigilant and continue to accurately report all matters in a transparent way to all stakeholders.
"We are also ensuring that any student who is unable to attend college due to self-isolation is able to continue their learning through online teaching tools.”
