The Ambon city government has announced that it is temporarily suspending limited face-to-face learning activities in schools until March 2022 to prevent COVID-19 spread.

“The temporary closure of limited face-to-face learning activities is an anticipatory step to stem the (rampant) spread of COVID-19 in Ambon City,” Ambon Mayor Richard Louhenapessy said in Ambon on Friday.

The joint decree of four ministers stipulates that schools where teachers or students test positive for COVID-19 will need to be closed for 14 days, he noted.

The Ambon City Health Office had taken samples from 25 percent of two thousand students attending face-to-face learning in 12 schools, he informed. The samples were sent for further COVID-19 examination, he said.

The results of the examination showed 125 students as reactive, and were followed by PCR tests, which also came back positive, he informed.

“That’s only 25 percent of the samples we took. Seventy-five percent of students were not antigen tested. The result was that quite a lot were confirmed (to be positive for COVID-19). So, if face-to-face learning is still imposed, it could have an impact on other students,” he explained.

The city government has decided to close schools in the area until March 2022 after considering the Health Ministry’s estimation of Omicron transmission peaking in February and March 2022, he said.

Should the conditions start to improve, face-to-face learning will be resumed, he added.

He said that his administration will take proper measures, in accordance with the current status of community activities restrictions (PPKM) in Ambon, which has been set at Level 2, and its gaining the yellow tag.

Source: Antara News