A teachers' union has attacked the government after attending a crunch meeting to discuss reopening schools on 1 June.
The NASUWT said the talks "raised more questions than answers" - and it claimed Number 10 provided no information "to change the widely held view that the evidence base for opening schools from 1 June is weak".
The meeting came after the government unveiled plans to send children in reception, Year 1 and Year 6 back to school from as early as next month, despite opposition from teaching unions.
Image:Other countries are slowly beginning to reopen schools with social distancing measures. Pictured is a school in Dortmund
The NASUWT said despite talks, no confirmation was provided that teachers are at low risk of catching COVID-19 once schools reopen.
General Secretary Dr Patrick Roach said: "The NASUWT remains clear that no school should reopen until it can demonstrate that it is safe to do so.
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"No clear information was provided on what modelling has been undertaken in relation to potential transmission rates when schools open more widely. Nothing in the meeting provided reassurance for the deeply worried and anxious school workforce.
"We are continuing to press for answers to these questions and also for clear guidance from government to schools to ensure that they take appropriate and reasonable steps to assess and mitigate the health and safety risks posed by COVID-19."
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Leeds City Council leader Judith Blake, who chairs the Local Government Association's Children & Young People Board, told Sky News: "What we're seeing is a real problem because an announcement was made without real consultation with headteachers. [There were] no signs of the scientific evidence that they say they've got lead them to make the decision.
"What they're saying through the LGA is 'show us the scientific evidence'. Explain why they've chosen reception, Year 1 and Year 6. What's the rationale behind it?
"All the teachers I know want to work with their children, and many of them have been doing so during the whole of lockdown.
"I had a Zoom call with more than 200 of our teachers in Leeds two days ago, and they want practical advice, to understand what it is that is being expected of them, and they want to do right by their children, their families and of course their staff."
She warned that, due to how the issue has been handled, parents don't have the "confidence" that all measures have been taken to make sure children can return safely.
"It's working with schools and realising each one is different, and will have different needs, to enable them to open safely," she added.
The talks came after Education Secretary Gavin Williamson unveiled plans to break the deadlock between the government and unions over when schools should reopen.
Earlier on Friday, Mr Williamson announced he had arranged for teaching union leaders to meet England's chief medical officer, Professor Chris Whitty, and other experts for a briefing on his scientific advice.
He previously accused unions of "scaremongering" over his plans for a phased return of pupils, claiming class sizes of 15, extra cleaning and other safeguards would help make schools safe.
Image:Students wearing protective face masks in a secondary school in Brussels, Belgium
Mr Williamson did not attend the meeting himself but gave a comment afterwards, which said that getting children back to school was "vital" for their educational development.
He added: "Many schools are already taking steps to welcome back their pupils. I am grateful for their support.
"I want to reassure parents and families that we are giving schools, nurseries and other providers all the guidance and support they will need to welcome more children back in a phased way and no earlier than 1 June.
"That's why we have engaged closely with stakeholders from across the sector throughout the past seven weeks, including the trade unions, and today we arranged a detailed briefing for them with the scientific and medical experts."
Meanwhile, new research suggested children in England are more likely than any other age group to be infected with COVID-19.
Almost one in five children (18%) aged between 5 and 14 years old have contracted COVID-19, according to modelling by Public Health England and the University of Cambridge's MRC Biostatistics Unit.
The findings could also raise questions about allowing schools to return in June.
Doctors have backed teachers' unions by saying Covid-19 infection rates are too high for England's schools to reopen.
The British Medical Association said teachers and heads were "absolutely right" to urge caution and prioritise testing to avoid a second spike.
It comes after teachers' unions met the government's scientific and medical advisers to seek answers to their safety concerns.
The NASUWT union said no school should reopen until it could show it was safe.
England is the only UK nation to set a date for schools to start to reopen.
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson has insisted schools would only open their doors more widely when the conditions were right to do so, with the earliest date being 1 June.
'Unanswered questions'
He had wanted to give head teachers and parents several weeks to plan for the event.
The governments in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have stepped back from setting a firm date.
But since the prime minister announced there was to be a gradual lifting of lockdown measures, plans for the phased reopening from the beginning of next month seem to have hardened.
After the meeting between the National Education Union and other teaching unions, and the government's top scientific advisers, Mr Williamson said schools would have all the "guidance and support they will need".
However, teachers' unions say they still have "unanswered questions" about how pupils can be invited back and managed safely.
'Conflicting evidence'
NASUWT general secretary Patrick Roach said: "No information was provided to change the widely held view that the evidence base for opening schools from 1 June is weak."
He added: "No evidence was provided at the meeting and there was no clarity about when it will be provided."
The British Medical Association said with so much "conflicting" evidence on opening schools, it was "completely aligned" with teachers' union calls to delay reopening.
"Until we have got case numbers much lower, we should not consider reopening schools," said a letter from the BMA's council chair.
It added there was still too little clear evidence on the extent to which children were carriers of the disease, even though they usually got fewer and less serious symptoms than adults.
Speaking after the meeting NEU joint general secretary Kevin Courtney welcomed a promise to publish the scientific evidence on school reopening plans.
But he called for a clarification over what thresholds would be used to judge if it was safe to open up.
And he asked how it would be measured whether reopening increased the rate of infection in the wider community.
His union is one of nine opposed to reopening schools on 1 June.
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But Mr Williamson said: "I want to reassure parents and families that we are giving schools, nurseries and other providers all the guidance and support they will need to welcome more children back in a phased way and no earlier than 1 June."
The DfE proposed teaching pupils in small groups of 15 or fewer and keeping them apart from other children during the school day to limit the spread of any infection, as well as maintaining good hygiene and hand washing.
But one of England's biggest academy trusts has become one of the first school groups to say it will reopen from 1 June.
Steve Chalke, founder of the Oasis trust which has 35 primary schools, says opposition to reopening fails to recognise the harm to disadvantaged children from missing school.
'Not forcing anyone to attend'
Mr Chalke, whose schools on average have 45% of children eligible for free school meals, said: "The greatest risks for many of our children are being stuck in a council block, with no fresh air, no exercise, little or no nutritious food."
Mr Chalke said the schools would not be "forcing anyone to attend", either pupils or staff, adding safety measures would be in place.
But he stressed that the "long-term social cost" of not opening would "outweigh any short-term medical risks".
'Our children need space to learn'
Graham Gallagher and his wife Leanne have three young children with special needs.
He says schools reopening on 1 June would "benefit the whole family", who live in a two-bedroom flat in Walsall in the West Midlands.
He feels their children aren't getting a "valuable learning experience" at home and worry they could regress from the "solid progress" they have made during this school year.
At home, the children struggle to concentrate for more than an hour at a time, and Leanne is struggling to manage the learning of all three children at once.
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Schools reopening would allow the children to learn and socialise in a distraction-free environment with more space and access to an outdoor area.
He says the couple share teachers' concerns that they need to be "properly protected", and hopes "plans will be put in place" to alleviate their worries.
'Too early' to reopen schools
Primary school teacher Mary Newton, 49, says she "feels very strongly" that June is "far too early" to reopen schools.
Her husband John, 56, who runs an educational books company, has been shielding at home after a recent heart attack and Mary says their children returning to school would be a concern for his health.
They plan to keep their two children - who are in Years 4 and 6 - at home for as long as they can.
She says it could be "catastrophic" for a child's mental health if they contracted the virus and transmitted it to a family member who became very ill from it.
Children could be "traumatised" by the new rules that would have to be adhered to and staff would be anxious, she adds.
"I believe schools should continue to support children of key workers and those most vulnerable", she says, "but I certainly won't be sending my Year 6 child back to school in June".
The number of new cases is still falling in the UK, but not as quickly as in the past. Sources said that progress was "getting closer to flat".
The latest analysis takes account of the spread of coronavirus in care homes, hospitals and more widely in society.
As the figures are based on patients ending up in hospital, they actually give a sense of the R-number from around three weeks ago.
That predates Boris Johnson's shift in England from "stay at home" to "stay alert", alongside encouraging some people back to work and allowing people to meet one person from outside their household outdoors.
The increase in the infection rate is said to be "consistent with" a significant fall in cases in the community and the epidemic and in turn the R-number being driven by care homes.
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Sir Patrick Vallance, the government chief scientific adviser said: "To keep R below one and control the virus, it is vital that people stay alert and continue to follow the latest government guidelines to the letter."
The figures do not perfectly match those from the SAGE group of government scientific advisors because it assesses multiple models to reach its conclusions.
The Cambridge study, backed by Public Health England, shows London has made the most progress with suppressing the virus, while it is proving far more stubborn in the north-east of England.
Those figures are more optimistic than other groups calculations.
The Cambridge team calculated the figures by working backwards from the number of deaths. However, they have looked only at deaths confirmed with a genetic test rather than all deaths.
However, claims there are now just 24 cases a day in the capital and that it could soon be free of the virus have been slammed.
There were in fact 49 people admitted to London hospitals with Covid-19 yesterday and likely hundreds of cases that did not need hospital treatment.
"I am extremely worried about the media message that London could be coronavirus free in days," said Prof Matt Keeling, from the University of Warwick.
He added: "If people think London is coronavirus-free that could be dangerous, and could lead to complacency, undermining all the struggles and sacrifices that everyone has made so far. A relaxation of vigilance could easily see R increasing above 1, and a second epidemic wave."
Every person prosecuted under the Coronavirus Act was wrongly charged, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has said.
Under the act, officers are allowed to remove or detain a "suspected infectious person" for screening and assessment, but all 44 charges brought up until the end of April were incorrect.
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And 12 charges under the Health Protection Regulations 2020, which give police powers to break up gatherings and fine people breaching restriction of movement rules, were also wrong.
However, other offences under those regulations were charged correctly, CPS director of legal services Gregor McGill said.
"Under the regulations, the vast majority, that's 175 out of 187, have been charged correctly.
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"And these included people driving from London to Leicester for a party, groups drinking and misbehaving in the park and other groups hanging around the town centre after being asked to go home by police on several occasions.
"Where mistakes were made, it was usually because Welsh regulations were used in England, or vice versa.
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"Under the act, all 44 charges were incorrect because they did not cover potentially infectious people, which is what the legislation is intended for."
The CPS reviewed all 231 police charges under coronavirus legislation in England and Wales up to the end of April, where the prosecution has either been stopped or ended in a conviction.
Most (38) of the 44 charges had been brought alongside other offences, including assaults on emergency workers, theft and burglary, Mr McGill said.
Thirty-one of the wrongful charges were withdrawn in court, with 13 wrongful convictions returned to court to be withdrawn.
It comes as the National Police Chiefs' Council revealed that a total of 14,244 fines for alleged breaches of these laws were issued by forces in England and Wales up to 11 May.
Most fines have been issued in London, the figures show, with the Metropolitan Police issuing the highest number of fines, 906, of the 43 regional police forces in England and Wales.
Thames Valley Police was second with 866, and North Yorkshire third, with 843. Warwickshire issued the fewest, with just 31.
National Police Chiefs' Council chairman Martin Hewitt said he was satisfied with how the laws were being enforced.
"The figures show our approach is proportionate with just 0.02% of the population in England and Wales being issued with a fine.
"Our approach of - engage, explain and encourage, and only as a last resort, enforce - will continue. It is working across the UK. I urge the public to keep going, keep following the advice."
