A medical staff gives a nucleic acid test to a resident in Xi'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi Province on Monday. Photo: VCG

Xi'an, a historic city famous for terra-cotta warriors with the population of more than 13 million people in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province announced on Tuesday to suspend onsite (offline) classes for some students amid the COVID-19 flare-ups. Meanwhile, other areas including culture venues, tourist attractions and cinemas also suspended services on Tuesday.

Shaanxi on Monday reported nine local confirmed COVID-19 cases including four in Xi'an and 15 asymptomatic carriers including seven in Xi'an, the local health authorities said on Tuesday.

Except for junior high school and senior high school graduates, all grades in primary and secondary schools and kindergartens in Xi'an will suspend onsite classes since Tuesday, and the resumption will be based on further notice, according to cnr.cn on Tuesday.

The notice states that during the onsite-class suspension, all teachers should arrange works including classes for graduation grade students, safety management, online classes of non-graduation grade students and psychological counseling, as well as guide parents to do health monitoring and safety management of students at home.

Meanwhile, other related onsite activities were also suspended. A teacher from Xi'an Youth Palace told the Global Times on Tuesday on the condition of anonymity that the palace has suspended all the services and activities due to the COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control, and will conduct disinfection starting on Wednesday.

An employee from a district education bureau in Xi'an confirmed with the Global Times on Tuesday that they have suspended the onsite classes for some students involving more than 100 schools within the district. "All the teachers have to work fully including conducting online classes and guiding epidemic prevention when students stay at home," the employee said.

A teacher in Xi'an also said that they have received the notice to suspend onsite classes this morning and they will conduct online classes.

Affected by the latest flare-ups, many venues including Shaanxi Library, Shaanxi History Museum, Daci'en Temple and other scenic spots, cultural venues and cinemas have also issued notices to suspend services. 

The topic of Xi'an's suspension of onsite classes for most students have gained wide attention from Chinese netizens, with more than 250 million views and clicks on Chinese-twitter-like Sina Weibo.

Xi'an on Monday announced the latest epidemic prevention measures as the epidemic prevention is still complex and grim. For those personnel who had travel history from high-risky regions within seven days, they will take a seven-day centralized quarantine; and for those who came from low-risk regions, they will take nucleic acid tests twice within three days, according to the local authorities.

Many cities across the country including Shanghai and Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region all have seen COVID-19 resurgences recently. Shanghai announced on Monday that all the districts in the city have to conduct at least nucleic tests screening twice among communities until early November.