China is experiencing another wave of COVID-19 outbreaks, as a fever wave hits schools across the country, leading to the halting of many classes, an internal metro system document shows.
Shanghai Metro epidemic prevention measures are being enforced again because of a new round of infections, a transit system worker who identified herself as Ms. Liang told The Epoch Times on Feb. 21.
“The second wave of COVID-19 in Shanghai and Hangzhou has come again,” she said. ”Three schools in Hangzhou are having COVID-19 outbreaks, and a primary school in Shanghai Qingpu suspended classes for four days because of flu.”
The Metro system recently issued an internal document about epidemic prevention measures, according to Liang.
“The station head just sent us a document titled ‘Procedure to Handle COVID-19 Positive Passengers.’ It details the strict measures, but we don’t know when they will be implemented. They just told us to prepare for epidemic control and get familiar with the measures as soon as possible and informed us that if the outbreak cannot be controlled, the procedure probably will be implemented in March.”
She said it’s possible that the authorities may reinstitute the draconian “zero-COVID” policy and noted that Shanghai’s municipal government-issued service mobile app still had the COVID-19 health code (color) function and the function of checking PCR testing results.
The Epoch Times also obtained an internal notice to parents from Shaw Primary School in the Qingpu district of Shanghai on Feb. 19. It notified the parents of a class that had many students ill with a fever. Four of them were diagnosed with flu, and classes were suspended from Feb. 20 to Feb. 23.
The Qingpu District Education Bureau stated that the notice was true and stressed that students were ill with type-A flu, not COVID-19.
Fever Wave Hits Schools
Groups of students at schools and child care facilities in Beijing were reported as exhibiting a fever, the Beijing Municipal Commission of Education said in a Feb. 22 notice through its official social media account.A parent in Shanxi Province told The Epoch Times on Feb. 21 that a COVID-19 outbreak recently occurred in the local schools, forcing the suspension of classes.
“My child who is a student in the junior high school of a bilingual school who lives in school dorms has tested positive for COVID-19,” a parent, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of fear of reprisal, told The Epoch Times.
“This time, there are other students who also tested positive and haven’t been infected before. The whole school has almost all been infected. All the students were sent home after testing positive. They were allowed to return to school on Feb. 22. The school said that as long as they don’t have a fever, they can go back to class, even if they still test positive for COVID-19.”
Ms. Liu, a parent who works at the Chengbei Vegetable Market in Suixi County of Huaibei city in Anhui Province, told The Epoch Times on Feb. 21 that two infectious diseases—influenza A and norovirus—have been spreading in local schools.
“Many children have a fever,“ she said. ”My child is also having a fever now, how difficult it is! Their symptoms vary. These days, there are two viruses spreading. Some [children] vomit, which is probably caused by norovirus, while some are having influenza A; [they] have to take blood tests to confirm it.”
Norovirus, also called gastroenteritis or the “stomach flu,” is very contagious, public data show; in addition to vomiting and diarrhea, common symptoms include nausea, stomach cramps, fever, chills, aches, and fatigue.
