Schools in Greece opened on Monday with more self-tests for students and teachers in order to contain the spread of Covid-19.
Students of all levels, whether vaccinated or unvaccinated, as well as vaccinated teachers, have been provided with five (5) free self-tests from pharmacies from Wednesday, January 5 until Saturday, January 8.
As Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, said:
«Despite the difficulties, as everywhere in the world, so in Greece the students return to knowledge and our teachers return to their work. In fact, on the first day of classes, thanks to the system of mass tests, more than 15,000 infections of coronavirus were detected which, otherwise, would have spread in the community, transmitting the virus much more easily. I want to emphasize that our country is in the first places in Europe in laboratory and self-diagnostic tests. So far it has organized and distributed 94,000,000 tests to 7,800,000 citizens.
According to scientists, along with vaccinations is the best response to the pandemic and especially to the “O” mutation. That is why the public health monitoring program continues throughout the country. It is certain that in the coming weeks there will be some problems. But it will be less than the profit that society, our parents and, above all, our children will have. With the clear and flexible plan of the State, the support of teachers and the understanding of all, today we are taking a step forward. Open schools can also be a forerunner of an open society».
New health measures include:
- an extra self test for the first week of classes (Jan. 10-15), or three self tests for the week instead of two, provided by pharmacies without charge,
- Vaccinated students and teachers must also do two self tests that week, instead of one, because of the high infection rates to those fully vaccinated as well, and
- in cases of an infection, the entire classroom will need to be tested, not just those sitting near the infected person.
In the last case, unvaccinated students will be obliged to test every day of the week (five days), with 2 rapid tests and 3 self tests, the latter provided free by pharmacies. The same applies for unvaccinated teachers, who will also do 2 rapid tests and 3 self tests, the latter free of charge.