Contrary to the parents' suspicions, the long-announced screening of about 8.200 students in primary and secondary schools is being conducted without any problems so far, and the results will be announced after the testing is over, according to the Ministry of Health.

The swabs are taken at random by the students from the E-diary register and with the consent of the parents. The purpose of screening is to detect possible asymptomatic carriers of the coronavirus in schools and to prevent its transmission. According to the plan, the testing will be conducted first in secondary and then in primary schools. The screening will last for five days, and about 1.600 children should be tested daily, in the schools themselves by mobile teams.

- Today they were with us for the first time. A total of 40 children were tested and all were negative. In my opinion, screening is a smart idea, and if it can, it should be done at least once or twice a month - said for "Free Press" Dragan Arsovski, director of the Skopje high school "Korchagin".

In the primary school "Michal Grameno" in the village of Blace, only three students were tested out of a total of 110. All three are negative.

The epidemiologist prof. Dr. Dragan Danilovski says that it would be wiser to test children who have symptoms, because testing such a small number of students is a "blank shot".

- Such tests have logic if they are performed with regular dynamics. Such a one-time test does not mean anything - says Danilovski.

According to microbiologist Nikola Panovski, it is more efficient to test only students who have symptoms of covid-19, and random screening should be for antibody testing.

- It would be best to perform mass screening of students, but for 200.000 students, as many as there are in the country, we know that it would be expensive - says Panovski.