THE HAGUE, the Netherlands

Primary schools and kindergartens in the Netherlands will open on Feb. 8, the country's education minister said on Sunday.

Arie Slob said at a news conference negations on opening high schools are ongoing and are expected to be out in a week.

He noted that teachers will be able to carry out COVID-19 tests that give immediate results to detect cases in schools.

In case a student’s test result comes out to be positive, all the students in that class will be quarantined for five days, he added.

Slob said that the most significant reason for opening primary schools is that the new strain of the virus which emerged in the UK and spreads faster is rarely contracted by children.

Schools in the Netherlands have been closed since new cases spiked on Dec. 17, 2020.

* Writing by Dilan Pamuk in Ankara