427,000 high school students in Anhui sit Gaokao

Examinees enter an exam venue at Hefei No. 8 Middle School in Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui Province, on July 7, 2020.

A total of 427,000 high school students in East China’s Anhui province are sitting for the nation’s college entrance examinations, also known as Gaokao, up 7,000 from last year, according to local education authorities.

The exams will last from Tuesday to Wednesday. It is the first time since 2003 that Gaokao has been postponed till July, due to the COVID-19 epidemic.

There are 14,489 examination rooms at 306 testing sites around the province. In addition, 1,550 back-up rooms (or quarantine examination rooms) have been set up in case students need to sit separately.

Every ten standard exam rooms must come with a back-up or quarantine room, the Anhui Education Examination Authority said.

More than 70,000 teachers and staff members are engaged in organizing the exams, together with 1,269 medics.

All the examinees and staff members are required to have their body temperature checked at the entrance and are allowed into test sites only if temperature is below 37.3 degrees Celsius.