12:01 p.m.
90 schools and faculties closed in France
For a good two weeks, more than twelve million children and young people in France have been going back to school – but more than 90 facilities are currently closed due to Corona cases.
Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer spoke on Tuesday in Paris of a total of 81 schools and around a dozen university faculties. According to him, almost 1200 schoolchildren tested positive for Corona within a week, although all children aged eleven and over are required to wear a mask.
In France, classes are sent home when at least three positive corona cases have occurred. Since the beginning of school, this has applied to more than 2100 school classes.
But that is only 0.13 percent of the total, emphasized the Minister of Education. “Despite everything, the numbers remain very limited.”
At the universities, medical faculties were particularly affected. Dozens of students tested positive in Montpellier, Toulouse and Rennes. The Ministry of Education blames “private gatherings” at which hygiene regulations were disregarded. The largest student union, Fage, said that many of the lecture halls were overcrowded.
In France there were recently almost 8,000 new infections within 24 hours. With more than 750 patients in intensive care units, the pressure on hospitals is increasing, especially in the region around Provence and the Côte d’Azur as well as in Paris.
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