COVID-19: today (Monday 21 March), the Prince’s Government restates the screening campaign in schools

To follow up on the initiatives at the end of the school holidays in January and February, the Prince’s Government is organising a new large-scale screening campaign in schools on Monday 21 March.

This rapid screening scheme is designed for as many people to take a test as possible, two weeks after wearing a mask became non-mandatory in schools and one week after the COVID pass was abolished in the Principality.

Several thousand self-tests will be offered to the entire educational community (teachers, non-teaching staff and students). Staff and students will be asked to take a test in class, on a voluntary basis for adults and requiring receipt of parental authorisation for children. Parents have already received these authorisation requests from schools.

The self-tests used are identical to those seen in previous school-based screening campaigns. These rapid, non-invasive and easy-to-use self-tests have been recommended by paediatricians. In concrete terms, the tests only involve taking a nasal swab with a small sponge, inserted just beyond the edge of the nostril. The result is displayed within 15 minutes. Positive cases can therefore be quickly identified, to break the chain of infection as much as possible.

A total of nearly 5,000 teachers, students and school staff participated in each of the two previous school testing campaigns.