France shuts 22 schools – just days after reopening – due to virus outbreaks
France has shut 22 schools, just days after reopening, due to cases of Covid-19, French education minister Jean-Michel Blanquer said on Friday.
“In mainland France, there are currently 12 schools closed out of a total of over 60,000, which is a small figure. Adding 10 schools in La Reunion (island), that makes it 22,” Blanquer told Europe 1 radio.
Up to 130 classes have also been halted within schools and the minister said the authorities were checking around 250 incidents related to Covid-19 in schools every day.
These incidents are mainly linked to “factors outside school concerning people who could have been contaminated” over the summer, he said. He added that more than three coronavirus cases meant the school will be temporarily shut.
But despite the closures, the first week had gone “relatively well” and “despite fears everyone went back and that makes me very happy,” he added.
Over 12 million pupils went back to school in France on Tuesday while some parents and teachers’ unions voiced their concerns at plans for reopening classrooms as the spread of the virus picks up again.
On Thursday, the health ministry confirmed more than 7,000 new coronavirus infections over a 24 hour period – for the second time in two days. Hospitalisations for the virus is also rising again.
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