Coronavirus: Test to stay units struggle to operate as staff get Covid (updated)

The ‘test to stay’ testing system in schools came in for further criticism on Monday as some units never turned up which the health ministry said was due to Covid-19 infections and contacts among the teams.

The ministry apologised to students and their parents for the inconvenience and said that efforts were underway to provide more Covid-19 test units across schools.

Local media reported that “chaos” ensued at some test-to-stay units as nobody turned up in some cases, while other sites were severely understaffed.

That led to parents rushing to find other units which were available, students turning up late for school or simply returning home.

Head of the Larnaca schoolboard Petros Chrysostomou told the Cyprus News Agency that that the unit never showed up at the Katharis primary school, with parents who had gathered there instead being redirected to Drosia primary school, which then led to crowding.

In Paphos, the district’s secondary education officer George Koutsides said that three units were absent but that there were plenty of other options available to parents and their children for Covid-19 tests.

Overall, he said, the programme has been a success as thousands of children who would otherwise have been stuck at home – due to being a close contact – are now back in the classroom.

Koutsides called for patience and understanding as members of the test programme are only human and are also able to get infected or be a close contact.

The controversy comes as the health ministry is set to discuss and evaluate the test programme.

The programme came about as an effort to allow more students to remain in school if they are a contact of a confirmed infection, whereby a negative test will secure them the right to remain.

President of primary school teachers union Poed Myria Vassiliou told the Cyprus News Agency that schools need substantial support as the requirements of the measures, the testing, and the constant stream of ministry circulars and announcements, strain the normal daily functioning of schools, many of which are now understaffed.