China's three-day 2022 postgraduate admission examination lifts its curtain today. About 4.57 million people signed up across the nation.

In view of the current epidemic situation, all schools have strictly implemented containment and response measures: isolated examination rooms, special entrance and exit, special dining halls, temporary rest areas and free meals.

More than 3,600 test centers and 170,000 test rooms were arranged across the country, among them, 13,000 standby isolation exam rooms are prepared. Before the test, many university test centers have issued instructions and tips on epidemic prevention, specifying that examinees are required to present information on epidemic prevention such as a nucleic acid negative certificate within 48 hours, a health commitment letter and a green health code when entering.

Nearly 170,000 people applied for the exam in Shaanxi Province this year, of which about 135,000 are taking the exam in Xi'an.

What kinds of challenges are there, under such circumstances?

Up until now, Xi'an has reported 255 locally confirmed cases. Saturday was the third day of the city's lockdown.

Shaanxi Education Examination Authority issued a letter to candidates on Wednesday, stressing that this year's admission tickets are not only certificates of registration information, but also travel permits.

In order to solve the travel problems of these students, Xi'an City has made special arrangements and deployments. Xi'an's public transportation, including buses, subways, taxis and online ride-hailing, was in normal operation during the exam period, making it convenient for students to travel.

For examinees in containment areas, private cars are not allowed to travel to ensure their safety. Instead, the government will coordinate online taxi services and provide one-to-one shuttle service.

Throughout the exam period, there will be many traffic police on duty along the route. If candidates encounter difficulties on the road, they can also turn to the traffic police on the spot for help.

Candidates in non-containment areas can choose to drive. The three-day test will cover 34 test centers and 137 bus routes in Xi'an. The buses will be less than 50 percent full, and the departure time will be shortened.

There are three kinds of test rooms, one for students with a high body temperature and abnormal health code, one for candidates from containment areas, and the rest are ordinary examination rooms.

The number of applicants for the postgraduate entrance exam has been climbing year after year since 2017, when the number exceeded 2 million for the first time.

This year, 4.57 million people applied nationwide, breaking the 4 million mark for the first time.