Schools suspended in Yunnan city to stop virus spread

All schools in the urban areas of Ruili in Yunnan province, which borders Myanmar, suspended classes on Wednesday, after new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases were reported, officials said at a news conference on Thursday.

Students at boarding schools were asked to stay at their schools for quarantine.

A team of 20 was assembled to offer psychological counseling to teachers, students and parents. Campuses are being disinfected and sterilized, said Chen Jun, head of the Ruili bureau of education and sport.

The city has completed collecting samples from all its people, with 105,530 samples tested, Gong Yunzun, the city's Party secretary said.

As of Thursday morning, a total of 1,320 people who had close contact with infected people had been quarantined for observation.

On Monday, one person in the Jiegao community was found positive during routine nucleic acid testing for key populations. The city then reported 12 confirmed cases and 26 asymptomatic carriers, according to the Yunnan Health Commission.