Students and teachers will undergo weekly swab tests in 10 percent of Jakarta schools that are carrying out face-to-face learning (PTM) to prevent an increase in cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19.
Head of disease prevention and control at the Jakarta Health Office, Dwi Oktavia, made the remarks on Tuesday.
The effort is part of active case finding (ACF) or testing and tracing for detecting COVID-19 cases, she explained.
“We will conduct ACF in face-to-face learning activities every week. Ten percent of the schools will test students and teachers by swab test,” Oktavia informed.
The swab tests will help the Jakarta Health Office monitor any potential increase in cases, she said.
Some COVID-19 Task Force officers will also be assigned at each school to monitor health protocol compliance by students and teachers so they can remind each other to remain disciplined in following the protocols, she explained.
Regarding on-site learning duration, there are also early-stage regulations for shortening study hours, she revealed.
Each school will also be supervised and encouraged to conduct daily evaluations and improvements with the aim of fixing technical errors that are not in accordance with the health protocols, she said.
“We, together with the Education Office, will closely monitor the development of cases. Hence, if there are children who are infected (with COVID-19), we will certainly inspect the school further and search for (close contacts),” she added.
Oktavia assured that the government will not stagnate in supervising the implementation of PTM, and the policies taken will depend on developing conditions.
“In case we need to limit the activities, it will definitely be done. Do not let the chain of transmission be lasting,” she remarked.
Source: Antara News