Children who are now returning home from a holiday in a red travel zone will only be able to return to school after being tested or quarantining for 14 days.
"The federal and regional provisions in this regard are very clear. Children returning from red zones must be quarantined and/or tested," Francophone Education Minister Caroline Désir said on Wednesday, less than a week before the start of the school year.
Even if (young) children are considered at a lesser risk from the disease, they will nevertheless have to submit to the same conditions as adults in case of return from red zones, the Belga press agency reports.
School principals will therefore have the right to ask the students concerned to present the results of a test carried out after their return, or failing that, to quarantine.
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Last weekend, Belgian virologist Marc Van Ranst already stated that children returning from red travel zones now would not be able to go to school on 1 September, as they should still be in quarantine.
Additionally, the quarantine rule also applies when the zone was not yet red at the moment of departure in Belgium, but changed colours during your stay.
“There will be no exceptions. The start of the new school year will not be easy,” Van Ranst said. “In some schools, children are going to get sick and they want to avoid those chances as much as possible.”
Maïthé Chini
The Brussels Times
