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First students return to school in Germany

04 August 2020 02:29 (UTC +04:00)

Students in Germany's northern Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania state have become the first in the country to return to school for full-time classes following the summer break, APA reports citing BBC.

Federal Education Minister Anja Karliczek has called for mask requirements inside school buildings, but decisions on the school system ultimately fall to state governments.

At the height of the pandemic in Germany, schools offered limited classes and distance learning.

Some then began offering partial hours, but this is the first return to something closer to normal.

All 16 states have agreed to return to full-time learning following the summer holiday, which is staggered in Germany.

Students are set to return in Hamburg on Thursday and in Berlin next week.

It comes as a study by the University of Leipzig suggested that schools were not a source of infections.

Tests conducted on 2,600 students and teachers in Saxony in May and June found no acute infections. Fewer than 20 of those tested had antibodies, which would indicate a past infection.

Germany has recorded more than 211,000 cases of coronavirus, according to data collated by Johns Hopkins University.