RIGA, April 22 (LETA) - The local authority of the southwestern Latvian city Liepaja on Thursday decided to order distance learning for schoolchildren in grades 1-6 and 7-11, Renate Rode, a spokeswoman for the Liepaja education administration, informed LETA. 

Although Liepaja is still on the list of Latvia's municipalities deemed to be epidemiologically safe for in-person learning, there has been an upsurge in Covid-19 cases in recent days. Over the week, the number of new cases has risen by 44 percent in Liepaja. 

The local authority has therefore decided to prioritize public health over learning in classrooms and carry on with distance learning, Melke said. 

She added that upon assessing epidemiological safety, the number of students at each school, infrastructure, teachers' workload and other essential aspects, it has been decided that 12th-grade students can come to school twice a week to learn exam subjects.

At present, this model is practiced at three high schools in Liepaja. The students and teachers involved in contact learning are tested for Covid-19 every other week. 

As reported, students in grades 1-6, grade 12, as well as grades 7-9 and 10-11 on a rotational basis will be able to learn in classrooms in 44 epidemiologically safe municipalities as of next Monday. The number of such safe municipalities has decreased by 11 over the week. 

Of Latvia's large cities, in-person learning is allowed in Liepaja, Jekabpils, Valmiera and Ventspils.