China’s Wuhan to reopen schools, but remains ready to revert to online teaching if Covid-19 spreads

Wuhan, the city where the Covid-19 outbreak was first detected in China, is reopening schools and kindergartens next week. However, contingency plans are in place to switch back to online education should the coronavirus reemerge.

When the autumn semester starts on Thursday, as many as 2,842 educational institutions across the Chinese city of 11 million people will open their doors to some 1.4 million students, local authorities in Wuhan said.

The schools will operate under epidemic prevention rules. Students are instructed to wear masks and avoid public transport when they come and go, while educators will provide daily reports to health officials. Should a new Covid-19 outbreak occur, teaching will revert back to online.

Wuhan and the surrounding province of Hubei is where the coronavirus was first detected in China. The area endured a strict 76-day lockdown to stop the outbreak. The vast majority of Covid-19 cases reported in the country came from Wuhan. No local transmissions of the infection have been identified there since mid-May.

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