Coronavirus outbreak: New semester in Chinese universities postponed

The State Council of China has decided to postpone the new semester of universities in the wake of the deadly coronavirus outbreak, the Chinese Embassy has informed the Union Health ministry.

The students will be notified by their respective universities.

According to an official, several students who had returned from China after the epidemic had approached the health ministry saying their respective universities were asking them to join back or they would lose their admission status.

"The issue was taken up by Union Health Secretary Preeti Sudan during her meeting with the Chinese Ambassador recently," an official statement said.

"This request has been responded to favourably. The Chinese Embassy has written that the State Council of China has decided to postpone the new semester of the universities, including Southwest University for which Secretary had represented. The students will be notified by their respective universities accordingly," it said.

A total of 654 people, mostly students, were evacuated from the coronavirus-hit Chinese city of Wuhan on February 1 and 2 and quarantined at two facilities set by the Army and ITBP in India. They all have been discharged.

The third and final batch of inmates quarantined at the ITBP facility was released on Wednesday.

With the latest release, all 406 people at the Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) facility have been discharged after they tested negative for the virus.

All 248 people who were lodged at the Army camp in Manesar were discharged on Tuesday.

India has so far reported three confirmed cases of the virus, all in Kerala.

Two of the three medical students who had tested positive for the coronavirus infection have now been discharged, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan had said on Monday.

The condition of the third one is stable, he had said.

The death toll in the coronavirus epidemic in China crossed the 2,000-mark on Wednesday, while the overall confirmed cases have climbed to 74,185. PTI PLB DPB