Romanian schools will reopen in September on a case-by-case basis, with towns which are hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic likely to continue to hold classes online, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said Wednesday.
“For most children, (the reopening) means they will actually physically go to school,” Iohannis said. School is due to go back on September 14.
Coronavirus infections in Romania have surpassed 1,000 new cases per day in the past 15 days, except one taking the total number of cases to 56,550 since the pandemic reached the country in late February.
Deaths have risen in recent days, and Romania has extended a state of alert until mid-August and places some small towns and villages with spikes in the number of cases under localised quarantine.
“There are three scenarios depending on the number of cases in each town,” he said. “The way each school functions will be decided locally, on a decentralized county level.”
Towns with a single case per 1,000 people reported in the last 14 days will see all children back in classrooms. Those with up to three cases will see only kindergartners and a few grades back, with other classes held online.
Towns with more than three cases per 1,000 will only hold classes online.
Iohannis said several hundred towns were currently in the middle bracket while schools could not reopen in 50 towns. The status of each school will be constantly re-assessed, he said.
