(Photo: VCG)

URUMQI, March 11 (Xinhua) -- High school students who are going to graduate this year will resume school Monday in northwestern China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region after the outbreak of the novel coronavirus had delayed their new semester.

The third-graders of the junior and senior high, as well as the graduating classes in vocational schools, will be the first batch of students returning to school, according to a circular issued on Wednesday by the regional department of education.

The students would be divided into small classes, with no more than 30 in each classroom, the circular said.

All the faculty and students should have meals separately, and sports, cultural and art activities with mass gathering should be avoided, it said.

Educational departments at various levels should support the schools to prepare for the anti-epidemic materials.

The schools will be under closed-off management, forbidding any unrelated personnel to enter, the circular said.

The last patient infected with COVID-19 in Xinjiang was cured and discharged from the hospital on Sunday, bringing the existing number of COVID-19 cases in the region to zero.

Both the autonomous region and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps have downgraded their emergency response toward the novel coronavirus outbreak from Level II to Level III.