More than 20 colleges and universities across six regions in China postponed the start of their fall semesters in recent days in an effort to curb local outbreaks of the Chinese coronavirus, the Global Times reported on Sunday.
The Chinese state-run newspaper detailed the development on August 21, writing:
[U]niversities and colleges in municipalities and provinces, including Beijing, Northwest China’s Shaanxi, East China’s Fujian, South China’s Hainan, Northeast China’s Liaoning and Jilin provinces, have decided to put off the start of the new semester.
The delays came after a recent notification issued by China’s Ministry of Education, urging universities nationwide to carry out scientific and precise normalized epidemic prevention and control by carefully arranging the return of faculties and students.
The Chinese national capital of Beijing, which contains 92 public universities and colleges, has responded to the Chinese education ministry notice by attempting to stagger the fall semester start dates for its higher education institutions, resulting in dozens of delays.
“[T]he Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing Normal University and the Central Academy of Fine Arts, have adjusted their arrangements for the new semester, with some turning to online registration for freshmen, or putting off the new semester start dates until mid-September,” according to the Global Times.
“Since there are still sporadic COVID-19 [Chinese coronavirus] outbreaks in some places with a considerable number of asymptomatic infections, flare-up risks will exist if all universities start on the same date or during the same period with throngs of students coming in from across the nation,” a Beijing-based immunologist told the newspaper anonymously on August 21.
“Students coming from different places with different levels of risks and with possible virus transmission risks through public transportation can pose risks to the campus,” he stated.
China’s National Health Commission recorded 360 new daily cases of the Chinese coronavirus on August 22. Of the caseload, 232 infections were detected within the island province of Hainan, which is considered China’s southernmost location.
“[A]t least four colleges in Hainan, including Hainan Normal University, Hainan University, Hainan Medical University, and Hainan Vocational University of Science and Technology, have all postponed the registration or arrival dates for students in accordance with the local epidemic prevention and control requirement,” the Global Times noted on August 21.
China is home to the world’s largest population (1.426 billion), making its daily tally for the Chinese coronavirus on Monday (360) seem relatively small. The nation’s ruling Communist Party continues to observe a zero-tolerance policy toward the disease, however, meaning it reacts to even one new case of the Chinese coronavirus with stringent containment protocol including mass lockdowns and forced quarantine.
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