Government official indicates high schools may reopen on Monday

Minister of State Giorgos Geraptritis on Tuesday indicated that Greece’s high schools may reopen for in-person classes next week, as coronavirus self-testing kits are expected to become widely available at pharmacies across the country.

The government’s expert committee of health advisers has “already discussed moving ahead with the opening of schools on the condition that self-tests are available and mandatory. The self-diagnosis tests have already reached the country and we estimate that all pharmacies in major cities will be supplied by tomorrow and all pharmacies across the country by the end of the week,” Ierapetritis said in comments to Skai television.

“I think that we will be able to open schools on Monday, as they have been closed for a long time and this has a serious impact not just on the pupils’ mental health, but also on learning matters,” he added. 

Gerapetritis said that the government aims to prioritize high schools and then middle schools, arguing that elementary schools have been open longer this academic year and also that it is easier to extend the year at the primary level than at the secondary one.

The minister of state also appeared cautiously optimistic of nationwide travel being allowed by Easter in early May.

“If all goes well and we do not have a major epidemiological setback, it is reasonable to assume that we’ll have interregional travel over Easter, though not among regions that have been hard hit,” Gerapetritis said.