CM1 pupils sent home in Covid-19 scare

One day after children went back to school in France, one class has already been sent home because of a coronavirus scare.

All 24 pupils in the CM1 class of a school in Saint-Priest, near Lyon, have been placed in quarantine as a precaution, after the parents of one pupil sent their child into school without waiting for the results of a coronavirus test.

Pupils from other classes returned to school as normal on Thursday.

"In an emergency, we took the children out and warned the parents. The teacher was wearing a mask," said the town's mayor Gilles Gascon.

The child's mother had come into contact with someone who had tested positive for Covid-19 through work, according to reports, and contact test and tracing protocols had taken place.

The child is displaying no symptoms, reports say, but officials in the Rhône - a red zone for coronavirus - are taking no chances pending the results of the test.

"As a precautionary measure, they had their child tested. It is true that it would have been preferable, of course, if before returning to class, they could have had the result, of course," Mr Gascon said.

The mayor added that the protocols were respected at the school, and that an email was sent to the community agents asking them to be tested before their return to work, "and to wait for the result of the test before coming back to work, that goes a little without saying."