Wuhan schools to reopen as WHO says team will visit city

THE Chinese city of Wuhan, where the Covid-19 pandemic originated, will reopen all its schools and kindergartens on Tuesday.

As many as 2,842 educational institutions across the city will open their doors to almost 1.4million students when the autumn term gets under way, the local government announced. Wuhan University reopened on Monday.

The city said it has drawn up emergency plans to switch back to online teaching should risk levels change.

It advised students to wear masks to and from school and avoid public transportation if possible.

Schools have been ordered to stock up on disease control equipment and to carry out drills and training sessions to help prepare for new outbreaks.

They must also restrict unnecessary mass gatherings, and submit daily reports to health authorities. Foreign students and teachers who have not received notice from their school will not be allowed to return, it said.

The central Chinese city, where the pandemic is believed to have originated, was locked down for more than two months from late January.

The city’s death toll of 3,869 accounts for more than 80 per cent of China’s total. Wuhan has been steadily returning to normal since April, when the lockdown was lifted, and it has not reported any new local transmissions of the coronavirus since May 18.

Last week it emerged that a World Health Organisation team sent to China to investigate the origins of coronavirus did not visit the city.

The WHO reiterated that the two officials who visited China were part of an “advance mission” whose role was to lay the groundwork and terms of reference for the international investigation into the origins of Sars-Cov-2, which was agreed earlier this year.

The international team is expected to visit China, including Wuhan, later this year, say WHO sources. China has come under fire from around the world since the outbreak of the virus, which has infected almost 25million people and killed over 800,000.

Beijing has denied US accusations that China covered up the initial outbreak and handled it badly.