Students In China Wear Homemade Social Distancing Hats As They Return To School

Along with face masks, pupils have to don 'one-metre hats', which ensure they remember to observe strict physical distancing guidelines that remain in place.

Four classes of first-yearpupiles at Yangzheng School in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang Province in East China, were permitted to return to class for the first time yesterday (26 April) in preparation for lessons to resume today (27 April).

Images and video footage from inside the classroom show the children each wearing a surgical mask and their very own homemade one-metre hat, which has a 3-foot-long measuring tool jutting out the sides.

Many have been crafted from cardboard, though one girl decided to make hers with balloons used to make balloon animals.

Vice-principal Hong Feng told local media: "This was our own creative idea.

"It helps us promote our slogan: 'Wear a one-metre hat, keep a one-metre distance'."

To help ensure the school kids maintain proper hygiene practices, they are not allowed to have any physical contact with one another, and have been told they cannot break their special hats.

According to reports, it is also compulsory for the children to wear their surgical masks, and they must undergo regular temperature screenings.

As the number of coronavirus cases surged in China in January, schools and universities were told not to reopen after the Chinese New Year holidays ended on 29 January.

In turn, lessons were moved online, with city officials across the country allowed to resume classes at their discretion.

Junior and senior high school pupils in their final year returned to class on 13 April, and fourth, fifth and sixth year primary school pupils on 20 April.

Meanwhile, those in grades one, two and three returned on 26 April, while nursery schools are set to reopen on 6 May.

Zhejiang remains the region with the third-largest number of coronavirus cases in China, following the provinces of Hubei and Guangdong.

The provincial health commission has reported 1,268 total cases and one death, while its capital Hangzhou's last recorded case was an imported asymptomatic patient on 20 April.