UAE pupils to be screened for Covid-19 before resuming school in April

The ruling applies to those who travel outside the UAE

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Pupils who have travelled outside the UAE during the spring break will be screened for signs of coronavirus before they return to school, the UAE’s Ministry of Education said on Saturday.

But officials gave no details of what to expect nor whether tests would be conducted in schools or elsewhere.

The ministry made the announcement on its twitter page.

This applies to all private and public educational institutes.

Teachers and staff will also be screened for the virus.

Earlier last week, the Ministry announced that all schools in the country would be closed for four weeks to boost efforts to contain the spread of the virus.

Spring break, which was due to begin on March 29, started on March 8 and will last two weeks. Distance learning will be introduced during the remaining two weeks, with pupils learning from home.

Government schools will run a home-teaching programme called Learn from Afar from March 22 to April 5.

Private schools have set up their own distance-learning programmes or have expanded existing e-learning tools such as Google Classroom, ClassDojo and Seesaw, to cover the school day.

A "sterilisation programme" for all educational facilities will be carried out in all schools, buses and universities, the ministry said last week.

Last week, a 16-year-old pupil of an Indian school in Dubai tested positive for Covid-19.

She was infected by a parent who had travelled overseas.

After the reported case, dozens of pupils, teachers, parents and staff were tested for the virus who had been on the same school bus and in the same classroom as the patient.

A 17-year-old male Emirati pupil was also infected with the virus, The Ministry of Health and Prevention said on March 6.

The UAE recorded 15 new coronavirus cases on March 6, taking the total number of cases to 45.

Seven people have been cured of the virus so far.

The 15 new cases involved people with a range of nationalities and many had recently arrived from abroad, the ministry said.

* This article has been updated to clarify only pupils who visited high-risk countries will be tested.