France closes 22 schools due to Covid-19 infections

France has closed 22 of its 62,000 schools since in-person classes resumed this week because of coronavirus infections.

Education Minister Jean-Blanquer told Europe-1 radio that overall, French schools have reported about 250 suspected virus cases per day since they started reopening Tuesday.

Of those, 10 were on the French Indian Ocean island of Reunion, where access to health care is poorer than on mainland France and the number of virus patients in hospitals has jumped in recent weeks.

Not all those cases turn out to be positive, but once suspicion is reported, schools must follow an extensive government protocol that can include sending a whole class home for online learning or shutting the whole school.

Blanquer says the number of disruptions remains relatively low compared to the number of schools in France.

The French government, like many around Europe, ordered the in-person reopening of all schools this week to tackle inequalities worsened by lockdowns and get parents back to work to revive the economy.

France recorded more than 7,000 new virus cases Thursday, the highest daily rate in Europe and up from several hundred a day in May and June, in part thanks to ramped-up testing. More than 30,700 people with the virus have died in France.