Abu Dhabi to offer in-school PCR tests from next week
MOVE COMES FOLLOWING CONGESTION AT COVID-19 SCREENING CENTRES
From next week onwards, Abu Dhabi students will be able to undergo saliva and nasal Covid-19 PCR tests in their schools.
The Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge (Adek), which regulates over 200 private and charter schools in the emirate, has taken the initiative in collaboration with the Department of Health, in order to support education continuity and alleviate pressure on parents.
Trained professionals will visit schools from September 7 onwards to conduct the screenings on campus for students, educators and staff, enabling them to meet routine testing requirements and also to quickly screen those with Covid-19 symptoms.
Webinar for parents
We are currently working with the health authorities to organise for service providers to visit every school at a certain frequency so that children can get their PCR testing done in school.”
In a webinar for parents following the start of the new term, Adek officials had addressessed the need for more convenient PCR testing options. “We saw that there was quite a bit of congestion at the PCR testing centres before the start of the school term. We are currently working with the health authorities to organise for service providers to visit every school at a certain frequency so that children can get their PCR testing done in school,” Aisha Al Blooshi, Covid-19 incident management team lead at Adek, told parents on Wednesday evening
“We are finalising the details, so the testing can be done at a specific location like the gym or the nurse’s clinic or [testing personnel] will go from class to class to get the tests done,” Al Blooshi said.
Schoolchildren across the UAE this week resumed classes after the summer break. Ahead of the start of the term, the National Crisis, Emergencies and Disasters Management Authority (NCEMA) had announced mandatory PCR tests for all children physically returning to school.
Explaining why all schoolchildren need to be regularly screened via PCR, Al Blooshi said it helps safeguard the community against Covid-19 outbreaks.
“For us, it’s been a balance between a return to normality in the school system and keeping the kids safe. This year, we are allowing a lot more children to attend school physically and we have found that this proactive approach of PCR testing really works for us. It has allowed us to keep positive cases outside the school system, especially with new [Covid-19] variants of concern,” she explained.
Children will also have to present negative PCR tests with 96-hour validity after major school vacations and public holidays, as mandated by Adek. Officials said this approach has been chosen based on Covid-19 case tracking and analyses conducted in previous terms.
“Based on our analyses of the number of cases reported by schools after specific long or public holidays, we noticed that there were spikes, particularly after the end of these breaks. So having a 96-hour PCR test validity before returning to school safeguards the school community, preventing positive cases from entering the school and spreading the virus among students and teachers. This requirement, therefore, helps ensure a healthy and safe environment at schools,” an Adek official explained.
Aisha Al Blooshi | Adek official