Police in southern China are searching for a man who allegedly killed three people and injured six with a knife at a kindergarten in the country’s southern province of Jiangxi on Wednesday.

The 48-year-old suspect was identified by his surname Liu in a police statement. No further details of the Wednesday morning attack in the province's Anfu county were given in the brief statement.

China upgraded security at schools following a spate of deadly attacks in recent years attributed largely to people bearing grudges against society or who had unidentified mental illnesses.

China does not allow private gun ownership, so most such attacks are carried out with knives, homemade explosives or petrol bombs. Around100 children and adults have been killed over the past decade in apparently uncoordinated, “lone wolf” attacks in which the motive was unclear and the overwhelmingly male assailants were either killed, ended their lives or were put to trial and executed.

Acts of violence against China’s youth resonate especially strongly due to the country’s chronically low birthrate.

Tianjin infections

A handful of Covid-19 infections have forced the northern Chinese port city of Tianjin to shut many entertainment venues and some kindergartens and tutoring agencies. Tianjin reported 11 infections on Monday.