Microbiologist Nikola Panovski warns that having all children attend in-person classes is not sustainable with the current rate of coronavirus infections. Macedonia is undergoing a major new wave in the epidemic, but still the Government insists that most children begin classes in person, starting tomorrow.

I’m not sure what will happen, but probably in a week or two the children will have to go back to online classes, if the situation continues at the current pace, Panovski said in a TV interview.

Healthcare Minister Venko Filipce conceded that if the number of positive cases in schools reaches 10 percent, the in-person model will have to be scrapped. For most of the last school year, classes were held online.