In Guangzhou, high school entrance exams set

Guangzhou's senior high school entrance examinations, or zhongkao, which had been postponed due to the outbreak of COVID-19, will take place in the city from July 10 to 12, a senior education official announced on Wednesday.

Chen Minsheng, deputy director of the Guangzhou education bureau, said 90,544 students have registered to take the test this year. It was originally scheduled for June 20 to 22.

To ensure safety, all students will be required to take a coronavirus test within four days of the exam's start, Chen said at a news conference.

"And all the more than 16,000 examination staff members serving in the city's 161 examination venues will be required to receive two doses of vaccine before the end of June," he said.

Meanwhile, all examination venues have prepared isolation classrooms for students who have COVID-19 symptoms, he said.

The zhongkao is an important event for graduates of junior high schools. Students and their parents should prepare well, he added.

Chen Xu, deputy director of Guangzhou's development and reform commission, said a series of policies and measures have been introduced to help the companies that have been affected by the COVID-19 outbreak to overcome their difficulties in production and sales.

"The special policies and measures will be able to provide financial relief valued at more than 30 billion yuan ($4.62 billion) in the months to come to companies affected by the coronavirus," he said.

Liu Chengyong, deputy director of the Guangzhou municipal health commission, said Guangzhou has reported no new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases for four consecutive days as of Tuesday.

The city has reported a total of 153 cases, including 146 confirmed patients? and seven asymptomatic carriers, in this round of the outbreak, which started on May 21.

Forty-one of the patients recovered and had been discharged from hospital as of Tuesday, Liu said.