Twelve schools have been forced to close in mainland France as coronavirus cases surge across the country.
A further 10 schools were also closed for the same reason on La Reunion, one of two Caribbean islands administered by France, education minister Jean-Michel Blanquer said.
However, the rest of the almost 60,000 schools in France opened as planned at the start of the academic year.
Mr Blanquer told Europe 1 radio: “It has been a rather good week even though there are always some glitches. Over 12 million pupils returned to school in spite of the difficulties and the worries.”
The French school year began on Tuesday, with some parents and teachers’ unions voicing concerns that the virus could spread through classrooms.
The health ministry said on Thursday it had registered more than 7,000 new coronavirus infections over 24 hours for the second time in two days, just shy of a 7,578 record set on 31 March. Hospitalisations for the virus also rose further.
