China's Guangzhou to suspend in-person school classes over COVID-19

GUANGZHOU, April 10 (Xinhua) -- The southern Chinese metropolis of Guangzhou Sunday announced the suspension of in-person classes at local primary and middle schools starting April 11 for COVID-19 control.

From 8 a.m. Saturday to 2 p.m. Sunday, the city has registered 22 local infections amid its latest COVID-19 outbreak starting from Friday, said local authorities during a press conference held Sunday.

Starting from April 11, students in the city's primary and middle schools will switch to online classes. The exception will be third-graders in senior high schools whose schools have accommodation and closed-off management conditions, said Chen Xueming, deputy director of the city's education bureau, during the conference.

Kindergartens in Guangzhou will suspend admitting new children. The local off-campus training institutions will cancel offline teaching, and after-school care institutions will suspend services. Institutions of higher learning are expected to be put under closed-off management.

The physical education examination of the city's senior high school entrance examination, previously scheduled for April 11, will also be temporarily suspended.

Most of the local infections registered over the days were detected from screening of the city's key groups, close contacts and secondary close contacts of previously reported confirmed cases and asymptomatic ones. However, there might be possible transmission chains in the communities in the fresh outbreak, according to Chen Bin, deputy director of the municipal health commission.

Guangzhou has also tightened its virus control measures and encouraged its citizens not to leave the city unless necessary.

From April 11, people leaving the city will have to show a negative nucleic acid test result within 48 hours.

Eleven districts of the city have launched all-inclusive nucleic acid testing campaigns. As of Sunday noon, a total of over 19 million people had been sampled, according to Chen Bin.

Starting from Sunday afternoon, some districts have carried out another round of massive screening, which is believed to be a major approach to curb the virus spread in a timely manner.

Currently, Guangzhou is building a makeshift hospital in its Pazhou exhibition center, said Wu Linbo, deputy secretary-general of the municipal government, at the press conference.