The president of Madrid, the Spanish area hardest hit by the coronavirus, has said that “practically all the children” about to return to school in the region are likely to pick up the virus over the coming months.
Isabel Díaz Ayuso insisted that the necessary steps had been taken to make schools “very safe places”, but said such measures were not in place away from the classroom.
“Over the course of the school year, it’s likely that practically all the kids will get it one way or another,” she told esRadio on Wednesday.
“That’ll probably be because they pick it up over the weekend at a family gathering, or in the park in the afternoon, or from a classmate. We just don’t know because the virus can be anywhere.”
On Wednesday, the regional government contracted a private company to begin testing 100,000 school staff for Covid-19 antibodies as families prepare for a staggered return to school over the coming days.
Teaching unions criticised the short notice given for the test, which led to huge queues as staff lined up around test centres.