- At Fung Kai No 1 Primary School in Sheung Shui, students are required to bring two masks, have their temperature checked and hands sanitised
- Schools will take a more careful approach in terms of preventive measures ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, association chief says
Hong Kong schools have taken extra precautions against the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak, with some stepping up cleaning efforts and others planning to question pupils on their Lunar New Year travel and check visitors' temperature.
At Fung Kai No 1 Primary School in Sheung Shui, near the border with mainland China, where about half of the 1,100 pupils live, students are required to bring two masks, have their temperature checked and hands sanitised when entering the campus.
Principal Chu Wai-lam said the school would also issue a notice to remind students and parents to take appropriate health measures during their holiday travel, for instance, not to visit wet markets.
Students would also be asked where they had travelled during the holiday on their return to school on February 3, so follow-up action could be taken in the event they came down with the virus, which causes pneumonia.
By Tuesday, more than 300 confirmed cases had been officially reported on the mainland including 270 cases in Hubei province, where the virus epicentre, Wuhan, is located. Thailand, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan have also recorded a total of five cases.
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Cheung Yung-pong, honorary chairman of the Aided Primary School Heads Association and principal of SKH St James' Primary School in Wan Chai, agreed a more careful approach would be taken in terms of preventive measures ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday.
"During the holiday travel rush on the mainland, (viruses) might spread in Hong Kong and students may get sick," Cheung said, adding that some of his pupils might be planning to travel across the border.
Cheung said his school had postponed an exchange tour to mainland city Hangzhou, originally planned for April, because of the outbreak.
But no parents had called for an early start to the school holiday, which begins on Friday, because of worries over the pneumonia outbreak, he said.
Teddy Tang Chun-keung, chairman of the Hong Kong Association of the Heads of Secondary Schools, said his school had activated a response system and deployed staff to keep track of developments related to the Wuhan pneumonia as well as instructions from the Centre for Health Protection.
Tang, principal of HKMA K S Lo College in Tin Shui Wai, also said the school would do a thorough clean-up during the holidays. All visitors had their temperature checked, he said.
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Kindergarten principal Elaine Kwan Shuk-ling said parents were not too worried as preventive measures had been taken, including sanitising toys and temperature checks on children.
She said the situation did not warrant the need to start the school holiday early.
"I believe there is no need to overreact and spread fear. Plus, there's also not been any particular cases of infectious illnesses spreading in kindergartens," Kwan said.
The Education Bureau said on Tuesday it had so far forwarded seven letters from the Centre for Health Protection to schools related to the Wuhan pneumonia. It said it had also reminded schools to strengthen preventive measures and that if they found any trace of infectious disease they should immediately report it to the government.
Separately, Baptist University said on Tuesday that one of its mainland students had developed symptoms of respiratory infection, which was confirmed to be a form of mild pneumonia, but a hospital check found it was not related to the Wuhan virus.
The university also said it has reminded students who would visit Wuhan during Lunar New Year to notify them of their schedule, adding that some dormitory rooms on campus had already been reserved for those who developed respiratory infection symptoms, such that they could temporarily quarantine themselves.
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The city's other seven publicly funded universities all said they would reinforce health measures on campus. The University of Science and Technology said it had been collecting reply slips from students living in dormitories to check whether they had been to Wuhan recently, while Lingnan University said 10 extra temperature checking machines had been installed on campus including in dorms.
Polytechnic University said it had advised hall residents to fill out a health declaration form and those who travelled from Wuhan should check their temperature and wear surgical masks for 14 days after they returned to the city.
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