The Education Bureau today announced that all schools will extend their Lunar New Year holidays to safeguard students’ health.

Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung made the statement at a press conference today on measures to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Classes will resume on February 17 for kindergartens, primary schools, secondary schools and special schools.

The decision was made because of an increase in the number of confirmed and suspected novel coronavirus infection cases and the increasing risk of the virus' spread in crowded environments in a short period, Mr Yeung said.

The bureau has also asked universities and tertiary institutions to consider extending the date of class resumption, he said.

During the originally scheduled school days, schools should keep their premises open and arrange staff to be on duty to look after students who have to go back to school, handle school affairs and parents’ enquiries.

Schools should also cancel scheduled examinations, tests and activities and make appropriate rearrangements.

Mr Yeung said: “We call on students to stay at home as far as possible during the extended period of school holidays.

“Schools can provide learning materials to students through emails, school homepages and other effective means, including online resources from Hong Kong Education City and other educational websites to facilitate students’ self-learning at home.

“We call on parents to enhance home-school co-operation and take proper care of their children, pay more attention to environmental and personal hygiene and avoid allowing their children to go to overcrowded places so as to reduce the risk of infection.”

Regarding arrangements for the provision of a $2,500 grant to day-school students in the 2019-20 school year, the bureau will extend the deadline for submission by two weeks from February 14 to February 28.

Mr Yeung noted that student exchange programmes on the Mainland have been suspended and postponed, and called on tertiary institutions to make similar arrangements for internship and exchange activities.

The bureau will inform schools of the latest information and relevant measures on infectious diseases and provide them with the necessary support, he added.