Day care centres, pre-school and 1st cycle schools reopen on Monday and the next day the testing campaign in those public and private schools begins.

"This new exercise (testing) begins on Tuesday with more than 50 thousand workers in the public system, plus workers from the private sector", said Minister Tiago Brandão Rodrigues, during a press conference to present support measures to the sectors of Economy, Labor, Culture and Education.

According to Tiago Brandão Rodrigues, there will be a “sweep of all workers”, but “workers will not be tested at the entrance to find out whether or not they can enter the school”.

The testing campaign, he said, is more “a supplementary measure to decrease the spread of the disease (covid-19)” in a school setting.

The screening tests are accompanied by the vaccination of teachers against the covid-19 and other older measures such as the use of a mask, the distance between students or the circuits of circulation within schools.

Tiago Brandão Rodrigues underlined the work done in schools to ensure that they are safe spaces, reminding the test results to the school community that started on 20 January and involved about 65 thousand students.

The results of the tests, which continued in the host schools when face-to-face teaching was suspended, showed that the schools were safe spaces. "There was between 0.1 percent and 0.2 percent positivity in the tests", stressed the minister.

The testing plan in schools foresees that, in addition to workers, secondary school students also take covid-19 screening tests on their return to school.