Beijing, Sep 22 (IANS): China's Education Ministry on Tuesday said that 90 per cent of students across the country have returned to school amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Addressing the media here, Ministry spokesperson Xu Mei said that as of September 19, at least 242 million students were back at primary, middle schools and universities across China, reports Xinhua news agency.

This marked the general restoration of on-campus teaching in China, Xu said.

Many freshmen are still waiting, as reopenings were being staggered to reduce Covid-19 control pressure, the spokesperson added.

School teaching has returned to normal in a safe and comprehensive manner, Xu further said.

Schools across China, except Xinjiang due to fresh Covid-19 cases, were given the go-ahead to reopen starting from September 1.

Although the novel coronavirus was first detected last December in Hubei province's capital city of Wuhan, China has so far reported only 85,297 confirmed cases and 4,634 deaths.