People walk past an infrared temperature detector to enter a high school in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, April 13, 2020. Students in their final year of senior and junior high schools in Zhejiang returned to school for their new semester on Monday. (Xinhua/Huang Zongzhi)
Several provinces and cities in China have made it mandatory for students and teachers returning from outside the regions to undergo COVID-19 tests before resuming classes.
Most provinces have set start dates for schools as the epidemic ebbs with nearly zero domestic cases reported since March. To ensure there are no cluster infections on campus and students and teachers are protected from the virus after schools reopen, governments have strengthened epidemic prevention and control work at schools, including requiring them to carry out COVID-19 tests on those who have traveled from hard-hit regions.
South China's Guangdong Province, East China's Zhejiang Province and Tai'an city in East China's Shandong Province have all announced a mandatory COVID-19 test policy for some school returnees.
In Guangdong, students and teachers returning from Wuhan have to undergo a 14-day observation and take nucleic acid tests, according to the Guangdong government's regulation announced on Friday. In addition, all school staff are required to take the test regardless of their travel history. Only those who show negative test results and no suspected symptoms are allowed to go back to schools, which will start from April 27.
Schools in Tai'an city gave free serum antibody tests to all high school graduating students and staff from Saturday to Monday, while 179 people highly suspected to be infected also took nucleic acid tests, with all showing negative results.
Zhang Lei, a senior student at Tai'an No.2 Senior High School, told the Global Times on Tuesday that the serum antibody tests the students received on Sunday and Monday were done quickly and in an orderly manner.
"There were more than 1,000 students who took the tests at an empty school nearby and it took much less time than we expected. It was really cool," Zhang said, adding that he really looked forward to school reopening on Wednesday after a long suspension due to the outbreak.
