COVID-19: Schools begin reopening in various cities of China

Middle and high school-aged students in various metropolitan in China are starting to return to school following the coronavirus outbreak.

According to the details, Shanghai city welcomed back students in their final years of middle and high school as well as Beijing allowed students preparing for university entrance exam in July to return.

Several weeks ago, schools in other parts of China have also re-opened.

Wuhan, where the outbreak began late last year, is set to reopen high schools on 6 May.

China says it has largely restrained the spread of the disease. The country has reported an increase of just 26 confirmed cases since Friday, bringing the total number to 82,830. All coronavirus patients in Wuhan have now been discharged, reports said.

However, in the country, there are still fears of a possible second spell of the deadly infection. Amid the concerns social distancing measures are being strictly enforced, with students wearing masks and sitting at a distance from each other.

In Hangzhou, pupils at Yangzheng Primary School wearing specially adapted hats to make sure they didn’t forget to keep their distance.

In Beijing on Monday, various students were met by people wearing full hazmat suits. The Ministry of Education said the capital’s returning students would have their temperatures taken on arrival at school gates and must show that they have a “green” code on an app which calculates their risk before being allowed back to class.

The city has still got some of the country’s strictest restrictions in place, including making new arrivals to the city spend two weeks in quarantine.