Classes to be suspended only when positives reach four cases

Classes will be suspended where four or more positive Covid-19 cases arise in the class in a day, the Education and Youth Development Bureau (DSEDJ) has announced.

This comes as the city entered the second phase of the transition period yesterday. With the transition, the city appears to be coexisting with Covid.

When the number of new confirmed cases of students in the class reaches four or more in a day (school day), face-to-face teaching of that class will be suspended for five days from that day. If there are less than four confirmed cases, the rest of the students can have class as usual, except for the positive cases.

Students suspended from school due to the measure in the first phase (Dec.12 and Dec. 13) should conduct rapid antigen tests or undergo nucleic acid tests for two consecutive days from the class suspension date.

They can resume schooling after obtaining a negative result. Parents may choose not to let their children return to school, depending on their children’s situation. Schools should exercise discretion in dealing with the absence of the students concerned, the bureau advised.

Confirmed cases of teaching and non-teaching staff are not considered a condition for the suspension of classes they teach or serve.

If the household member of a student is a confirmed case, the student should conduct self-health management in accordance with the guidelines on close contacts issued by the health department and should not return to school for the time being, during which time the health code of the student will be converted to a yellow code. Staff reporter