site.btaSchool Students Should Be Tested for COVID-19, Minister Says

October 26 (BTA) - It is necessary to test school students for COVID-19, caretaker Education and Science Minister Nikolai Denkov said on Bulgarian National Television on Tuesday.

Denkov said: "So far public resistance to test schoolchildren for COVID-19 has always been at 100 per cent and we had to comply with it. Right now the options which students have are to get tested and go to school or stay at home. We will let parents make their choice. At the beginning of the year, if we had said that we introduce COVID-19 testing for school students, we would not have had enough arguments for such action and it would have led to riots. Considering the current infection rate, we cannot admit students into schools without testing them because the consequences could be severe", Denkov said.

The Education Minister argued that the means for the student COVID-19 testing have been provided.

School students will get tested twice a week, on Monday and on Thursday, and the testing will be performed by teachers. Students who are vaccinated or have got sick and have recovered would be admitted to their schools if they verify it with a document, Denkov added.

The Education Ministry hopes to bring students from first to fourth grade back to schools next week. If "everything is fine" students from fifth to seventh grade would be brought back to school next, the Minister said. VE/KK