The mid-semester school holiday in Romania will not be prolonged and classes will resume with physical presence where the situation allows it, president Klaus Iohannis said on Thursday evening, November 4.

However, the president added that the authorities would introduce a new criterion for reopening schools for students, namely the vaccination rate. “Vaccination is the only way to overcome this pandemic,” he said.

Acting education minister Sorin Cimpeanu said on Thursday evening that schools might reopen for physical classes only where over 60% of the personnel is vaccinated, News.ro reported. The final decision in this sense is expected on Friday.

The authorities decided in October to extend a one-week mid-term school holiday to two weeks to curb the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, which hit Romania stronger than ever before amid low vaccination rates. The number of new daily cases has declined a bit from record levels reached in mid-October, but the number of deaths remains high. On Thursday, October 4, the authorities reported under 9,000 cases in the last 24 hours, but close to 500 deaths.

andrei@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Inquam Photos/Sabin Cirstoveanu)