Forty-five countries in the European region, which includes Russia and several former Soviet republics, have advised maintaining face-to-face teaching.
The World Health Organization (WHO) urged this Friday to keep schools open in Europe, with protection measures if necessary, despite the rise in infections for the fourth consecutive week.
More than half of the 53 countries that make up the WHO European region reported a “marked increase” in cases in all age groups last week, 18% more on average, while the rest of the continents continue to increase. downward trend.
Forty-five countries in the European region, which includes Russia and several former Soviet republics, have advised maintaining face-to-face teaching, but another seven have opted for full or partial closures.
The WHO stressed that schools should be “the last place to close their doors and the first to reopen them” and that interrupting their activity should be “the last resort”.
“The extensive closure of schools last year, disrupting the education of millions of children and adolescents, did more harm than good, especially for the mental and social well-being of children. We cannot repeat the same mistakes,” the Director of OMS-Europe, Hans Kluge.
Kluge appealed that the long-term interest of children should be a “priority” and argued that there are more effective tools to curb transmission.
Among the measures recommended by the WHO are physical distance, frequent hand washing, masks, adequate ventilation in classrooms, and increasing access to tests, especially in high-incidence settings.
WHO-Europe, based in Copenhagen, reiterated that it recommends the use of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine for ages 12 to 17 years and that for those under 12 it will disseminate new guidance when there is new evidence from the vaccine studies that are underway. doing.
The WHO European region has so far registered 76 million covid-19 cases and 1.4 million deaths. (I)
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