Schools across China are reportedly suspending classes and places students in quarantine, in response to a surge in a new variant of COVID-19.
“Home quarantine” notices have been issued to schoolchildren, requiring them to stay away from school for seven days and obtain a certified health certificate before returning to school. Schools in Shaanxi and Jiangsu provinces have been closed entirely.
Official statistics from the Chinese regime show the COVID infection rate doubled in April, to 168, 507 cases, with 340 severe cases and nine deaths. Infection rates are higher in the north than the south of the country.
The Chinese government claims infections have reached a peak and are now slowing, but sources who spoke to The Epoch Times claimed the situation is far worse than official accounts and statistics suggest.
Doctors who spoke to the newspaper said adults were mostly affected.
According to the Epoch Times, “The school suspensions and quarantines have heightened public concern that the regime’s draconian zero-COVID restrictions employed from 2020 to the end of 2022—during which communities were locked down, mass testing was mandatory, travel was restricted, and residents were forcefully sent to quarantine centers—could make a comeback.”
Chinese health authorities announced on 23 May 23 that Omicron variant NB.1.8.1 is currently the main variant spreading across the country.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified NB1.8.1 as a “variant under monitoring.”
Neighboring Asian countries and the US have reported cases caused by NB1.8.1, including in international travelers at airports.