ATHENS – As COVID-19 self-test kits will be made available in Greece through pharmacies for voluntary use, one a week, they will be mandatory for pupils and teachers as the government plans to reopen schools during a lockdown.

That will also be required for students taking university entrance exams in June with the New Democracy government saying reopening schools, planned for April 5 over the warnings of some health officials, will also depend on the procedures for the supply and organization of self-tests, reported Kathimerini.

Senior Education Ministry officials not named did not rule out the possibility that these procedures would be completed by the middle of the first week of April, after schools were set to open again.

Making the self-tests mandatory will run into significant opposition as the paper said that pupils and teachers at special education facilities are reluctant to be vaccinated – according to 52% of teachers and 22% of pupils – despite their having the privilege of priority vaccination.

There’s also a small but intense minority in Greece which think the pandemic is either fake or designed to make them get vaccinations to control their minds or affect their DNA and opposition to health measures to slow the pandemic.

Those taking self tests are supposed to report through a government platform if they have tested positive for the Coronavirus with no report how that would be monitored to make sure they do, including students and teachers.

A slow-rolling vaccination program is being accelerated across the country but it is working from the elderly and those with multiple or underlying conditions first and then down to the young but so far available otherwise to those only over 70 now.