Okaz/Saudi Gazette

RIYADH — The Saudi Public Health Authority (Weqaya) announced on Tuesday the mechanism for dealing with suspected, confirmed and positive cases of the coronavirus among the kindergarten and elementary school students.

According to the mechanism, if a suspicious case is observed in the groups of students who have not completed vaccination and in the event of a negative result, the school shall be informed about the result of the examination and the student can return to school if the symptoms do not appear for 24 hours without using an antipyretic.

In the event that a positive result appears in the groups of students who have not completed their vaccination, this shall be informed to the school as well as to the Public Health Department and the School Health Department in the region.

Those who have close contacts with the infected student and who have not completed vaccination shall remain in quarantine for a period of seven days. This period can be reduced to five days in the event that a quick examination is performed on the fifth day with a negative result and monitoring of symptoms for a period of 10 days.

As for those students who were in contact with the infected student shall be monitored for symptoms for a period of 10 days. A list of those students who were in contact shall be prepared and submitted to the health center or the Public Health Department under the Directorate of Health Affairs in the region.

According to the mechanism, if the case is secondary contact with the primary contact of the groups of students who have not completed vaccination and if the observed case belongs to the same class, the class shall be discontinued for a period of 2-5 days so that the public health team can make an intervention, determine the level of the outbreak and deal with suspected cases.

The team can determine the appropriate period to stop classes according to public health situation, as well as the quarantine period of students who were in close contacts and who have not completed vaccination.

In the event that the observed case belongs to a different class and has close contacts, the designated classes will be suspended for a period of 2-5 days with immediate notification to the Directorate of Health Affairs.

The appropriate period for suspension of study in the classes as well as other preventive measures, and quarantine of those students who were in close contacts will also be determined accordingly.

The mechanism stipulated that students who were in contact with infected persons do not require laboratory tests unless they show symptoms of COVID-19 or for the purposes of reducing the duration of the quarantine.

In such cases, it is not necessary to suspend study in school and a decision on the suspension of study shall be in coordination with the education departments and health affairs directorates in the region, it was stated in the mechanism.