Hong Kong extends school closure till mid-March amid COVID-19 scare

Customers have lunch with a transparent plastic panel setup on the table to isolate customers from spreading the coronavirus in Hong Kong, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2020. China’s ruling Communist Party needs to make a politically fraught decision: Admit a viral outbreak isn’t under control and cancel this year’s highest-profile official event. Or bring 3,000 legislators to Beijing next month and risk fueling public anger at the government’s handling of the disease. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

BEIJING — Hong Kong has extended the closure of schools because of a viral outbreak to March 16.

The city’s Education Secretary Kelvin Yeung said the decision to delay the reopening of schools after the Lunar New Year holiday took into account the advice of health experts, the readiness of schools, and the supply of epidemic preventive materials.

Students were supposed to return to classes on February 17 then delayed to March 2.

Yeung said “social distancing and avoiding the mass movement of people” are keys to preventing and controlling the outbreak.

Hong Kong has confirmed 50 cases and one death from COVID-19 or novel coronavirus, which originated in the city of Wuhan in Hubei province, China.

COVID-19 has so far infected nearly 60,000 people and killed 1,355 in China alone as of Thursday, February 13.