TWO teachers at a Basingstoke primary school are in self-isolation because they have struggled to get a coronavirus test.

Kelly Dillon, headteacher at Fairfields Primary School on Council Road, and a year 6 teacher have been forced to work from home today (Monday) as they have not been able to get tested after either reporting Covid symptoms or a member of their household having done so.

And Miss Dillon has warned that she could be forced to close her school to most pupils again if access to testing does not improve.

The Gazette has reported how people in Basingstoke are unable to access Covid-19 tests in the last week.

Cllr Jack Cousens was one of many unable to book a test, after his son came home from school with a temperature of 38.9.

It also comes days after The Gazette reported how four members of staff at Sainsbury's in Kempshott were in self-isolation after one tested positive.

After coming down with a cold, Miss Dillon tried to get a Covid test on the government's online system, but the nearest testing site available was 100 miles away.

"If we can't function as a school because we can't get tests quick enough, then we will have to consider closing the school," she told the BBC.

"There are things that need to happen that need people to do those things, especially during coronavirus, like managing the gates and staggered lunchtimes, and if you haven't got a team to do that because they can't get tests quick enough then you can't run a school safely."

Evangelos Kalavas, chair of school governors added: "If parents cannot find a test within a couple of days to get a result to send their children back to school, then they will start making different decisions which could potentially put the school and the whole community at risk."

Schools were closed to all pupils except the most vulnerable and children of key workers back in March.

They were reopened to pupils in reception, years 1 and 6 in June, with all pupils returning in person earlier this month.