Coronavirus: ‘little, if any, possibility’ Hong Kong schools resume fully on April 20, Lam says
- ‘Even if situation stabilises’, any reopening will come in stages, chief executive says in tamping down expectations
- News feels like a ‘death sentence’, says one parent, who complains online learning has been more burdensome than helpful
There is now little to no possibility that Hong Kong’s schools will fully reopen on April 20, the city’s chief executive said on Tuesday, as the government continues to step up measures to contain a surge in imported coronavirus infections
Speaking at her weekly media briefing, Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said that while classes could only resume in stages, the government was actively trying to boost the supply of children’s masks by asking the Correctional Services Department for help.
Lam’s attempt to manage parents’ expectations came alongside her morning announcement that
all travellers from foreign countries arriving in Hong Kong from Thursday would undergo mandatory quarantine
The move was seen as an attempt to combat a rise in imported infections, which account for about half of the city’s confirmed cases
About 900,000 kindergarten, primary and secondary students have been out of school since February 3, with April 20 targeted as a tentative date for resumption of classes.
Last week, teachers and principals suggested schools begin reopening in stages from that date, though Professor David Hui Shu-cheong, a medical expert advising Lam, said schools should reopen only if no locally transmitted coronavirus infections had been recorded for four weeks.
“In terms of class resumption, we will be very cautious. It seems that there’s little, if any, possibility that schools can completely resume on April 20,” Lam said at Tuesday’s briefing.
