this is bbc news. the headlines at 7pm: as more pupils prepare to return to the classroom — england's chief medical officer says the risk to schoolchildren from coronavirus is low. many more are likely to be harmed by not going than harmed by going, even during this pandemic. president trump declares california's wildfires a major disaster — releasing federal funds to victims who've lost their homes. chanting. opposition protesters in belarus hold a big demonstration in minsk — two weeks after president lukashenko‘s disputed election victory.

and health charities are urging the government to take action to tackle the increasing numbers of people seeking help for drinking too much alcohol during lockdown. good evening. children face greater long—term risks from missing school, compared to that of catching the virus whilst there, the uk's chief medical adviser has said. professor chris whitty has been speaking alongside an unusualjoint statement from the top medical officers of all four nations ahead of millions of pupils returning to classrooms in england, wales and northern ireland. schools in scotland have already reopened.

sarah campbell reports. for these scottish pupils, it was a damp but welcome return to school for the new academic year. and today there were reassuring words for the millions more across the uk who are about to get back to the classroom. the chances of children being... catching covid and then getting long—term serious problems as a result of it solely due to going to school are incredibly small. they're not zero, but they're incredibly small. the chances of many children being damaged by not going to school are incredibly clear, and therefore the balance of risk is very strongly in favour of children actually going to school. more than 200 primary school pupils in leeds will soon be heading back through these gates, and the head teacher here is among many listening very carefully to professor whitty‘s words. i'm trusting his judgment and hoping that he's absolutely right in what he says.

and i do agree that the children have had a difficult time for a long time now, for a good six months or so. they need to be back. they need us to look at what learning has been missed and what we need to catch up with. every trip into town, every visit to a museum now carries with it an element of risk. the people here today, clearly, the parents, the carers, the families, have decided, on balance, it's worth it. so what about going back to school? i think it's really good for the children. they're both looking forward to going back and seeing their friends. there's a wider implications on, you know, vulnerable members of society. but, certainly, for kitty, it's definitely the best thing for her to go back. in his class, well, his year has been kept in one bubble. so, yeah, i think they're doing everything they can to keep us all safe. months of planning have gone into making schools as safe as possible, but teaching unions are concerned there isn't sufficient

official guidance over what to do if an outbreak does occur. i represent people who want to know the logistics. if a child is going to be sent home, we get public health advice. are we told that some of the children will have to be sent home? might it be a whole year—group bubble? should those young people be in on rota—type basis? all of those, it seems to me, are important questions. politically, after the exam chaos of recent weeks, children's education and well—being is top of the priority list. we are left with a large number of situations where we have to make really quite difficult choices. there are no easy choices in confronting coronavirus. and with no vaccine likely for many months, professor whitty‘s view is that it shouldn't be the schools which are closed. sarah campbell, bbc news. our medical editor fergus walsh explained a little earlier why the government say it's so important for children to go back to school in september

the chief medical officers are quite frank that there almost certainly will be an increase in transmission as a result of schoolchildren going back. that will partly be down to children mixing in the classroom, but it will also partly be down to parents being able to go back to work. the evidence suggests that children don't drive transmission with coronavirus in the way that they do with seasonal flu. with seasonal flu, they are often described as super spreaders. that doesn't seem to be the case with coronavirus. but the very distinct message from the chief medical officers is that the harms to children are so great from being deprived of school that the risk to their health are so small. among 5—14—year—olds there were three deaths during the peak months of the epidemic here. that compares with around 500 deaths a year from other causes in that age group in england and wales.

so children are really the least at risk group. the chief medical officers really making it clear that their education, their learning, has to be protected. hospital cases, the numbers in hospital, have been falling for months, and they have continued to fall despite the easing of restrictions. there were, at one point in april, more than 3,000 people on ventilators. at last count, i think there were 72 in the uk. so we do talk a lot about cases, but we used to talk a lot about people in hospital and deaths. the deaths now have also continued to fall. so obviously there is concern and the chief medical officer, the chief medical adviser, chris whitty, believes we have very,

very little room for manoeuvre and he worries that, come the autumn, when people are indoors, that things could get out of control, and it won't be children who will then be in hospital, but it will be the vulnerable who are currently, you know, socially distancing. so he believes there is little room for manoeuvre. and the clear message from the chief medical officers is that they want schools, wherever possible, to be safeguarded. there might have to be local closures if you had a big outbreak in a school. the clear impression i get from their statement, although they are not specific, because is it is down to ministers who decide this, they would rather pubs closed rather than schools, we had the time earlier when we had the pubs reopen but not schools. but it will be to decide what choices are made. but clearly the view of these chief medical advisors is that learning is so important, and the harms of denying

it are so great. and you can find the latest developments and most up to date information on schools during the pandemic on the bbc news website — just head to bbc.co.uk/news. the uk recorded 1,041 new cases of coronavirus — according to latest government figures. the deaths of six people were also reported, under new rules which record those who've died within 28 days of a positive covid—i9 test. it's been confirmed that lockdown restrictions in aberdeen will be eased from tomorrow. limits on travel and visits to other households will be lifted — to follow rules that apply to the rest of scotland. hospitality, including restaurants and pubs, will be allowed to reopen from wednesday. in belarus, huge crowds of protesters are continuing

to stage demonstrations against president alexander lukashenko and the election two weeks ago — that they say was rigged. riot police have been ordered onto the streets of the capital, minsk. 0ur correspondent, steve rosenberg, is there. they've poured onto the streets. "long live belarus," they cried. a sea of protesters, flooding the centre of minsk. "resign," they shouted — a message for this man, alexander lu kashenko. for 26 years, he's been the president. but look how the people have turned against him. 0n independence square, they accuse him of stealing the election and violence against the people of belarus. our aim is to show the government that we are not their slaves.

we are here to show that we never elected him and that we want the change, that we want a new country with a new president. in belarus, people are making their voices heard like never before, they're demanding change. who isn't listening — alexander lu kashenko has made it quite clear he has no intention of stepping down. but he has every intention of raising the stakes.