Students in their final year at junior high schools in Wuhan can return to school on May 20, becoming the second batch of students allowed to be back in class, a new notice said on Thursday.

A total of 57,800 final-year students at 121 high schools and secondary vocational schools in the city, who are expected to take the national college entrance exam, or gaokao in July, returned to schools on Wednesday, marking the latest step of life gradually returning to normal in the city.

The notice, issued by the Wuhan headquarters for COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control, said the city will hold the high school entrance exam from July 20 to 21.

The school opening dates for students in other grades and other levels of education in the city will be announced later based on the development of the epidemic, it said.

The city will hold the gaokao from July 6 to 7, same as other regions in the country.