All students in a district in the Central Highlands province of Dak Nong have been required to stay home after a sixth grader tested positive for COVID-19 on the first day of the new school year.

An official from the Bureau of Education and Training in Dak R’Lap District, Dak Nong Province confirmed on Sunday that all activities at 47 schools in the locality had been suspended.

This means that approximately 18,000 students in Dak R’Lap must stay home from Monday until further notice.

The decision came after T.D., a sixth grader at a local boarding school, tested positive for COVID-19 during the opening ceremony of the 2021-22 school year on Sunday morning.

He underwent two rapid tests at his school, with both results returning positive.

His confirmatory test via the real-time RT-PCR method also came back positive.

D. has been brought to the local COVID-19 treatment facility, while all teachers and students of the boarding school have been requested to remain on the campus as part of pandemic response measures.

Competent authorities have collected samples of about 200 residents in Bubia Village, where the sixth grader resides, for COVID-19 testing.

Dak Nong Province has recorded 302 local coronavirus infections since the fourth wave hit Vietnam on April 27.

Provincial authorities allowed local schools to organize the school year opening ceremony in the traditional way on Sunday, but the number of students participating in the ceremony at each school had to be 100 at the most.

The ceremonies lasted for only 30 minutes, and all students were required to come home following the events.

The province has more than 180,000 K-12 students in the 2021-22 school year.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!