Shanghai to reopen all schools in September

SHANGHAI • China's financial hub Shanghai said yesterday that it would reopen all schools, including kindergartens and primary and middle schools, on Sept 1 after months of Covid-19 closures.

The city will require all teachers and students to take nucleic acid tests for the coronavirus every day before leaving campus, the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission said.

It also called for teachers and students to carry out a 14-day "self health management" within the city ahead of the school reopening, the commission said.

Shanghai shut all schools in March before the city's two-month lockdown to combat its worst Covid-19 outbreak in April and May.

It allowed some students of high schools and middle schools to return to classrooms in June, while most of the rest continued home study for the remainder of the semester.

The announcement on schools reopening brings great relief to many residents but fears about Covid-19 lockdowns continue to persist, as China vows to stick to its dynamic zero policy that requires all positive cases and their close contacts to undergo quarantine.

On Saturday, videos circulating on Chinese social media showed customers pushing past security guards and running out of an Ikea mall in central Shanghai in panic as an announcement blared over its sound system saying the mall was being locked down due to Covid-19 contact tracing.

Ikea's customer service said yesterday that the mall was shut due to Covid-19 curbs. Ikea did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.

Shanghai, the most populous city in China, reported five new local infections of Covid-19, all asymptomatic, for Saturday, while 2,467 domestically transmitted cases were reported nationwide.

It has extended its weekly Covid-19 test requirement and extended free testing until the end of September in a bid to keep the virus in check, the authorities announced.

The southern province of Hainan is now China's worst-hit region, with 494 symptomatic cases and 846 asymptomatic cases reported for Saturday.

Chinese Vice-Premier Sun Chunlan urged Hainan to achieve zero cases at the community level as soon as possible, when she inspected several places on the island, including the Sanya Phoenix International Airport, on Saturday, state media reported.

Meanwhile, China removed three health officials in Tibet from their posts for failing to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 outbreak.

The sacked officials include the party secretary and director of the municipal health commission of Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, as well as the party secretary of the city's centre for disease control and prevention, according to a statement published by the local government yesterday.

The dismissals were the result of the officials "failing to implement Covid-19 prevention and control work well", according to the statement.

Tibet last Monday reported four Covid-19 infections.

It was the first sign of the virus in the isolated region since a single case was found at the start of the pandemic in January 2020.

REUTERS, BLOOMBERG