The majority of public schools will be open to in-classroom learning by the end of the week, the Premier has announced.

At last night’s press conference, David Burt said that 30 of the island’s 36 public schools had reached the 80 per cent parental consent for saliva testing – allowing schools to open their gates.

Schools were due to open at the start of last month at the start of the new school year.

But the Government cancelled lessons only days before classes began because of a spike in Covid-19 cases. It has since planned a “phased” approach back to the classroom, with pupils returning gradually

Last night Mr Burt said: “It is extremely welcome news that as of yesterday 30 out of our 36 of our public schools have reached the over 80 per cent parental consent threshold for saliva screening.

“A number of our preschools and primary schools will return at the end of next week and the beginning of this week, including Gilbert Institute, Port Royal Primary and Purvis Primary.

“More schools will continue to return as the testing is done and the data is reviewed.

“The aim is to have as many schools as back to in-classroom learning by early next week as possible.”

Mr Burt added that Perot Post Office would be used as a screening centre for students “to accelerate the pre-entry testing”.

He said: “Pre-entry testing is proving useful as the ministry of education has identified five positive cases that were unknown to these persons.

“All students and staff must test negative in the pre-entry testing to return to school. Any student testing positive will not be permitted to return to the classroom and will be sent work packets to work on at home until negative tests have been received after their quarantine period.

“It is essentials for students’ education and development that we get them safely back into their classrooms.”