China Postpones New Semester Of Several Universities In Wake Of Coronavirus Scare

New Delhi: The Chinese authorities, reeling under the coronavirus outbreak that has left over 2,000 dead and 74,000 infected in China, have decided to postpone the new semester of several universities including Southwest University.

Several students who had returned from China after the epidemic had approached the health ministry saying their universities were asking them to join back or they would lose their admission.

In a meeting with the Chinese Ambassador recently, Preeti Sudan, Secretary, Ministry of Health had raised the issue of concerned students who were being asked by their respective universities to join back or lose their admission status, the Health ministry said in a statement, reports ndtv.com.

The ministry said their request has been responded to favorably by the authorities with the Chinese Embassy accepting the request.

The Chinese Embassy has informed Union Health ministry that the State Council of China has decided to postpone the new semester of universities in the wake of the deadly coronavirus outbreak. The students will be notified by their respective universities.

India evacuated at least 654 people majority of students from the COVID-19 -hit Wuhan in China on February 1 and 2 and quarantined at two facilities set by the Army and Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) in India. They all have been discharged. The third and final batch of inmates quarantined at the ITBP facility was released on Wednesday.