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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider France says 22 schools closed over virus cases

France says 22 schools closed over virus cases

Published Sep 4, 2020 05:58 pm

France's education minister on Friday said 22 schools have had to shut on French territory due to the coronavirus since pupils returned to school this week, emphasizing that over half of these were in the Indian Ocean island of La Reunion.

Pupils wearing a protective mask enter a classroom at Theodore Monod middle school in Bron, on September 1, 2020, on the first day of the school year amid the Covid-19 epidemic. - (Photo by JEFF PACHOUD / AFP)

Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer told Europe 1 radio that he was however pleased with how the return to school had progressed since children went back nationwide on Tuesday.

Ten schools have closed in mainland France and 12 on La Reunion, where there has been a recent surge in coronavirus cases, he said. France has some 60,000 schools nationwide.

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. More than three Covid cases means that the school is temporarily shut, he said.

But he added the first week had gone "relatively well" and "despite the fears everyone went back and that makes me very happy", he said.

France is currently seeing a surge in coronavirus cases -- with 7,157 new cases reported on Thursday -- although authorities have said everything will be done to avoid any new nationwide lockdown.

The surge has worried France's far-flung overseas territories in the Indian Ocean, Pacific and South America, where health systems are often not as sturdy as those on the mainland. 

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