Sofia, November 24 (BTA) - Students in grades 5-12 will be allowed to return to in-person classes without COVID tests on November 29, provided that half of the class have green certificates, the Education Ministry said Wednesday. It means that they will need to have a certificate of vaccination, recent recovery from COVID, an antibodies certificate or a negative PCR or rapid test.

The new rules were set out Wednesday in a joint order by the Ministers of Health and of Education.

Currently, only students in grades 1-4 have in-person classes after getting tested for COVID twice a week. Older students have online classes, except for the very few schools in parts of the country with lower COVID infection rates.

The new rules also allow private schools to buy their own tests and resume in-person classes for all students instead of wait for the government to provide tests for all schools.

There aren't enough tests for all students now.

According to Health Ministry figures, 6.84 per cent of students are vaccinated and slightly over 19,000 in grades 5 to 12 have had COVID. No information is available for those who have antibodies. LN///