College students in Charenton-le-Pont, in the Parisian suburbs.

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Lionel Urman / Sipa USA / SIPA

It changes at school.

While the epidemic is on the rise in France, the Ministry of the Interior has announced new rules in the classes in the event of a student carrying Covid-19.

Nursery and elementary schools are concerned.

When a child tests positive, his class can "continue to behave normally for other students, who are no longer considered as contact cases," the ministry said in a statement.

Until now, if a student was considered a "contact case", he could only return to school if a test, carried out seven days after the last contact with the confirmed case, was negative.

Objective: reduce class closures

"The protocol for identifying people with contact cases, their possible isolation, the possible closure of classes, or even schools, will however be applied when there are at least three confirmed cases in the same class" coming from different families, continues the Ministry.

In addition, a kindergarten or elementary school teacher wearing a mask and having worked with a non-masked student positive for Covid-19 will no longer be considered a contact case and will no longer be invited to isolate himself, he explains.

These new rules are based, specifies the ministry, on an opinion of the High council for public health (HSCP) dated Thursday, according to which "the children are little at risk of serious form and not very active in the transmission of SARS-CoV -2 ”.

These developments had been outlined at the end of the week by the Minister of Health Olivier Véran.

They aim to lower class closures due to Covid-19.

According to the latest official figures, 89 schools - public and private under contract - are currently closed in France due to cases of contamination by the coronavirus (out of a total of 61,500), including 76 schools.

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