Schools are letting their students stay at home as part of enhanced measures to prevent coronavirus' spread.

Fifty cities and provinces decided to extend Lunar New Year holiday for students for another week, and four provinces of Khanh Hoa, Ha Tinh, Dien Bien and Nghe An extend school closure until further notice. Meanwhile, schools in Ben Tre province were closed for one day for sterilisation.

Reports sent to the Ministry of Education and Training showed that communication work has been enhanced to raise awareness among teachers, managers, staff and students of the virus and prevention measures.

Sterilisation has been conducted at schools of all the provinces. To date, 23 cities and provinces have completed the work while the remaining localities will have fulfilled it before February 9.

In case of prolonged school closure, the school year will be rescheduled to end later than May 31, and high school students will take their graduation exam later than in previous years.

Sixteen universities have asked their students to resume their study on February 16 to protect themselves from the novel virus.

Teachers at schools, colleges and universities nationwide are applying a wide range of teaching methods to help their students learn online during the school closure.

Schools that resumed study on February 3 are continuing sterilisation, providing masks for students and staff as well as using thermometers and anti-bacterial gels or liquids.

They also requested students to report their travel schedules while keeping a close watch on their health and joining hands with local medical stations so as to arrange isolation rooms if necessary./.VNA