BERLIN – Schools across Germany should maintain regular operations in 2021-2022 despite ongoing exposures to COVID-19 and its Delta variant, the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Lander (KMK) said on Friday.

It would take time to cope with the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, the KMK said, but “It is still indispensable to keep the schools open and to ensure in-person learning there in the long term.”
Meanwhile, “regular (COVID-19) testing of students can continue until further notice,” the ministers noted.

Germany’s federal state of Saarland was the first to relax health regulations in schools last week. Bavaria and Berlin followed suit early this week by easing face mask requirements for students.

COVID-19 outbreaks in German schools “increased very significantly again between the beginning of August and mid-September 2021.”

According to the weekly report of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases, 481 outbreaks in schools were reported during that period.

The number of daily COVID-19 infections in Germany increased by 300 from last week to 10,429 new cases registered on Friday, the RKI said.