Chinese city postpones school opening amid rise of imported COVID-19 cases

HARBIN -- Harbin, capital of Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, has announced further postponing opening of junior high schools as it is coping with increasing imported COVID-19 cases.

Heilongjiang reported 56 new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on Sunday, the local health authority said Monday.

Among them, seven were locally transmitted cases and 49 were imported cases all involving Chinese nationals returning from Russia, the provincial health commission said.

By Sunday, the province had reported a total of 247 confirmed imported COVID-19 cases and one has been discharged from hospital after recovery, it said.

The municipal government said on Saturday that the date for class resumption of junior high schools, originally scheduled for April 17, will depend on the progress of the epidemic control situation.

The province had planned to gradually open school campuses, as it had basically contained the local transmission of coronavirus prior to the abrupt increase of the imported cases, which triggered further local transmission of the virus.

It allowed senior high schools to open campus for 190,000 students in graduating classes starting from April 7.

The provincial government said the senior high schools can continue the graduating classes to better prepare the students for the national college entrance exam and urged the schools to step up epidemic prevention among teachers and students.

The city of Jiaozhou, eastern China's Shandong province, announced over the weekend to further postpone school opening for graduating classes in senior high schools, which was originally scheduled for April 15, to prevent epidemic spread.