Accordingly, under the municipal Department of Health’s guidance, schools must carry out screening tests for all students and teachers when a suspected case is detected in the class as a proactive measure.
In case that suspected case is a teaching staff or a teacher, all close contacts of the suspected case must undergo rapid tests. Close contacts are those who have been in close contact with Covid-19-infected patients at a distance of fewer than 2 meters for more than 15 minutes.
The city Department of Education and Training proposed the municipal People's Committee to provide Covid-19 rapid test kits for educational institutions for screening tests of close contacts when an infection is detected in schools.
Before, middle schools and high schools in the city have restored Covid-19 rapid test kits in preparation for the return of ninth and twelve grade students in person from December 13. However, some schools have more test kits than other facilities due to budget constraints.
In the long term, more students of grades 6, 7, 8 10, and 11 will go to schools in person, schools will need more quick test kits. Schools are facing difficulties because students don't go to schools from the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year until now, which resulted in schools’ financial shortages.
On the morning of December 13, more than 100,000 students of grades 9 and 12 in Ho Chi Minh City had their first in-person class after learning online for nearly a semester.
According to the plan of pilot direct learning of the municipal People's Committee, students of grades 9 and 12 will attend in person in two weeks (or from December 13 to December 25).
After two weeks, the Departments of Education and Training and the Department of Health will evaluate, review and they will come to a conclusion that direct learning should be expanded or not. The conclusion will be submitted to the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City to decide whether to continue.
