The Spanish government announced on Thursday that schoolchildren aged six years and older must wear masks in classrooms and observe a distance of 1.5 meters between each other, Reuters reported.

The decision is due to the fact that Spain has the highest prevalence of coronavirus in Western Europe, and thousands of new cases are diagnosed daily.

Despite this, the government is not considering distance learning, Spanish Health Minister Salvador Illa said closing schools would be a last resort.

Spain went out of strict isolation in late June, after which the virus began to spread very quickly.

On Wednesday, the Ministry of Health diagnosed 3,594 new cases, while in the past two weeks almost 83,000 cases have been reported. Since the pandemic began, 29,000 people have died.

Asked by journalists whether parents who are concerned about the decision will be able to leave their children at home, Education MinisterIsabel Celaa said schools will be safer for children than anywhere else.

Teachers, pupils and parents criticized the government’s decision, including the fact that it was made at the last moment before the start of the school year.