After months of COVID-19 closures, Shanghai to reopen schools

After months of COVID-19 closures, China's financial hub said on Sunday that it would reopen all schools including kindergartens, primary and middle schools on Sep 1st.

The Shanghai Municipal Education Commission said that all teachers and students must take nucleic acid tests for the coronaviruses every day before leaving campus.

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 in a statement.

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

Some high school and middle school students were allowed 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 which requires all positive cases and close contacts to be quarantined.

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 after an announcement was made over its sound system that the mall was locked down due to COVID 19 contact tracing.

The mall was shut on Sunday due to COVID 19 curbs, and the customer service of IKEA said on Sunday it was not able to verify the authenticity of the videos. IKEA did not respond to a request for further comment.