OREANDA-NEWS. Russia has launched a project for rapid testing of students for coronavirus in ten pilot schools, said Deputy Mayor of Moscow Anastasia Rakova. Every two weeks, all students from 1st to 11th grade, as well as pupils of preschool groups will be checked for COVID-19.

Classes will take the test separately from others, at the end of one of the lessons or during the class hour. The decision on who exactly will conduct the testing is made by each of the ten schools independently. This can be both teachers and an engaged medical worker - the rapid test does not require special medical skills.

The information about the positive result of the test of the school is transmitted to the polyclinic — on the same day or the next day a doctor will come to the student's home, who will examine him and take a repeated rapid test and PCR test. Rapid testing will also be carried out for all family members. If additional tests already conducted by a doctor at home confirm the presence of COVID-19 in the child, then the class will be sent to a two-week quarantine. Parents will be issued a sick leave.

If parents refuse to test a child at school, they must provide the results of a negative PCR test once every two weeks, Rakova said. Parents, if they wish, will also be able to do an express test for the child themselves — for this they must come to the general day and time of testing appointed by the school. High school students will be able to conduct the test on their own, but under the supervision of a teacher.

According to Rakova, 2.5 times more school-age children have fallen ill in the last month than in the previous one, and the number of hospitalized students has exceeded 280. In total, more than 180 thousand children have fallen ill in Moscow since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.