Students in the Swiss city of Basel falsified positive COVID-19 results in a bid to skip school, resulting in the entire class being put in quarantine, and now disciplinary measures after the hoax was discovered.
Three students in Basel's Kirschgarten High School falsified SMS messages from Switzerland's COVID-19 contact tracing app, the Swiss newspaper Blick reported.
That forced about 25 classmates to be confined to their homes for some 10 days. Several teachers were also affected by the incident just before spring break in March.
"This is not just a childish prank, this is a serious incident," Simon Thiriet, a spokesman for Basel's education department, told Blick.
The school plans to pursue criminal charges for falsifying "health-relevant documents" though it does not plan to expel them.
Thiriet said that students are in a "difficult situation" due to the pandemic, but that doesn't excuse the stunt.
Trump cancels US strikes on Iran, citing progress in talks
US confirms third strike on Indian-crewed tankers this week
UK defence minister Healey quits, says PM Starmer's plans fail to keep country safe
False alarm at the Pentagon triggers brief shelter-in-place order
Trump says US will hit Iran 'very hard', take control of energy infrastructure
US and Iran trade attacks for a second day, undermining shaky ceasefire
Bahrain says debris from intercepted Iranian drones injures child, damages homes
Philippines launches probe into deaths of two athletes from top basketball team
