Final-year students, who live in the Chinese mainland and pursue undergraduate and postgraduate studies in Hubei's universities, can return to school starting from June 8, a new notice said on Monday.

The notice, issued by the Hubei headquarters for COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control, said final-year students studying at the province's higher vocational schools and students who need to go back to school for academic research can also return to school from June 8.

Students can decide whether they want to return to school or not and they should do so at staggered time slots, the notice said.

Each university can decide the specific dates for the reopening of the school, it said.

The school opening dates for students in other grades will be decided later according to the epidemic situation in Hubei, the notice said.

Students from graduating classes of senior high school and senior secondary vocational school in the province have returned to school on May 6 and graduating class students from middle school have resumed classes in late May.