Brave new world of corona: From masked students in Wuhan to sci-fi medics in the UK, pictures reveal how Covid-19 is changing societies
- Wuhan senior students are back at 121 institutions experiencing the new ‘normal’
- Pupils walked single file past thermal scanners and were seated three feet apart
- Cambridge’s Royal Papworth Hospital medics are wearing visors and respirators
- It is admitting the most serious coronavirus victims across the East of England
- Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19
Wearing masks, washing hands and walking in single file past thermal scanners, teenagers return to school in Wuhan, epicentre of the global pandemic.
Senior school students in 121 institutions were back in front of chalk boards and digital displays yesterday for the first time since their city shut down in January.
They are experiencing what could become the new normal for many across the world.
Wuhan senior school students in 121 institutions were back in front of chalk boards and digital displays yesterday for the first time since their city shut down in January
Senior students had to wash their hands after entering school at Hubei Wuchang Experimental High School in Wuhan. These schools carried out preventive disinfection before opening
Pupils in smaller classes sat at individual desks – some with screens – spaced 3ft apart as they shared a room with their teachers again after months of distance learning.
Some schools staggered arrival times and anyone with a high temperature was not allowed in.
It was the latest step in a gradual normalising of life in Wuhan, where the coronavirus is believed to have originated late last year.
Only those due to take university entrance exams have been allowed back to school.
Return dates in Wuhan’s province, Hubei, have not yet been confirmed for junior and middle school students.
Pupils in smaller classes sat at individual desks – some with screens – spaced 3ft apart as they shared a room with their teachers again after months of distance learning
Some schools staggered arrival times and anyone with a high temperature was not allowed in and only those due to take university entrance exams were allowed back to school
Elsewhere in China, schools that have been online-only since January began reopening last month.
Staff at one of Britain’s busiest intensive care units have long been used to donning protective equipment.
But medics treating Covid-19 patients at the Royal Papworth Hospital in Cambridge have been getting used to wearing visors and facemask respirators that would not seem out of place in a sci-fi movie.
Photographs show doctors working calmly on the front line treating the critically ill, some of whom have an array of wires linking them to machines.
The Royal Papworth, the UK’s leading heart and lung hospital, has been admitting the most serious coronavirus victims from across the East of England.
Clinical staff wear Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) as they care for a patient at the Intensive Care unit at Royal Papworth Hospital in Cambridge
The Royal Papworth, the UK’s leading heart and lung hospital, has been admitting the most serious coronavirus victims from across the East of England
The family of the late Professor Stephen Hawking, a regular patient at the hospital until his death in 2018, donated his ventilator so it could be reused by a Covid-19 patient
It has had to double the number of its critical care beds to cope with the increased demand.
Hundreds of staff, including those who do not usually work face-to-face with patients, have been retrained to work on the coronavirus wards.
The hospital has benefited from the generosity of the community.
The family of the late Professor Stephen Hawking, a regular patient at the hospital until his death in 2018, donated his ventilator so it could be reused by a Covid-19 patient.
They also donated six large bags of medical equipment.