Months after lockdown, children in Wuhan return to school

Beijing, Sep 1 (AP) Children returned to school Tuesday in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, the original epicentre of the coronavirus epidemic that underwent months of lockdown but which has not seen new cases of local transmission for weeks.

State media reported 1.4 million children in the city reported to 2,842 kindergartens, primary and secondary schools as part of a nationwide return to classes.

Life has largely returned to normal in Wuhan, where the novel coronavirus was first detected late last year.

After what critics called an attempt to ignore the outbreak, the city underwent a 76-day lockdown during which residents were confined to their homes and field hospitals opened to assist an overwhelmed medical system.

Wuhan marked a milestone on Sunday when its last confirmed case, a patient who brought the virus from overseas, was released from a city hospital.