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Countries that have reopened schools after passing the peak of the epidemic show no immediate spike in new cases so far

On average, countries reopened schools 25 to 30 days after the peak in new cases. Of the twenty countries that have reopened, only three—Madagascar, Czechia, and Vietnam—look as if there may have been any change in the trend of new daily cases when schools reopened.

Most countries that have already reopened their schools have continued their downward trend in new cases (Figure 1). But there are exceptions. Governments will need to use regional and sub-regional new case data to make decisions about localised school closures if spikes in new cases occur. For example, in South Korea around 250 schools near the capital Seoul were closed on May 28, just a few days after they opened, after a spike of 79 cases was reported. Schools across the rest of the country remain open.