Advice for UK Education Institutions visiting or recruiting students from the East Asia region; and/or working with local institutions 

 Summary 

At the British Council, the health and safety of all our visitors, staff and the communities in which we operate is our top priority. We support and cooperate with all local government agencies to put all necessary measures in place to ensure the continued well-being of all with whom we engage in the course of our operations.    

This post is to keep UK institutions who are visiting East Asia for events or meeting the British Council updated on disruptions caused by the Covid-19 outbreak.  

For travel advice, please refer to FCO updates, and we would encourage institutions who are considering travelling to sign up for alerts - https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice. We also strongly encourage visiting local government health websites to stay abreast of the prevailing health advisory and precautionary measures in any country that you may be visiting.  

For IELTS test arrangements as a result of Novel Coronavirus precautions, please see: https://www.ielts.org/news/2020/changes-to-ielts-test-arrangements-in-some-locations-due-to-novel-coronavirus.  

We are monitoring the situation very closely and will continue to provide updates as the situation develops. Please find current information by country/territory as per below:  

China 

Updated 12 March     

Changes to Chinese Education institution semesters, class times and examinations  

Over the last four weeks, China's Ministry of Education and the country's schools and universities have made a number of announcements regarding their response to the current Coronavirus epidemic. The start of the new semester has been put back, examinations and interviews have been postponed, and a number of institutions have expanded their online education provision.  

In the last week of February, the MoE stressed that “in principle, before the epidemic is effectively controlled, college students will not return to school, and universities will not open. Once all HEIs open the campuses, strict management measures must be taken”. 

At the secondary level and below, school dates are set at the provincial level. All provincial-level administrations (including directly governed municipalities and autonomous regions) have postponed the start of the new semester for all schools and universities, including private institutions.   

According to the most recent information, in-person classes at schools and universities in almost all parts of China are still suspended. The sole exception is Qinghai province, where some high schools returned on March 9th and others are scheduled to open later in the week, followed by junior high schools next week.  

Two other provinces have also announced dates for reopening. Schools in Guizhou will reopen in a staggered way, with students in the 3rd (final) year of high school and in the 3rd year of junior high school being the first to return on March 16th. Similarly, final year high school students in Shanxi will return to school on March 25th, with final year HE students restarting at the beginning of April; other years and levels of study do not yet have set dates to return. Qinghai, Guizhou and Shanxi are all in West China which was comparatively lightly affected by the outbreak. 

Schools in all other provinces are still suspended indefinitely. Two other provincial-level regions, Shandong and Guangxi, have announced that they will adopt staggered re-opening schedules similar to those in Guizhou but do not yet have any fixed dates. 

Meanwhile, many HEIs have announced starting the new semester with all teaching being delivered online for the first few weeks of term. Similarly, many primary and secondary schools already started teaching through online platforms over the past two weeks. Another example of increasing use of online resources is Tsinghua University’s announcement that they allow PhD students to defend their thesis online rather than in person. The university will also add an additional graduation session in August for PhD students who were unable to graduate in June due to delays caused by the coronavirus. 

To make up for class hours delayed by the epidemic control, primary and secondary schools in Sichuan, Shaanxi, Shandong, Guangdong, Hunan and other provinces have explicitly started to “compress summer vacation” in exchange for “delayed start of schools.” 

As well as the suspension of teaching, some examinations and recruitment activities have also been postponed. The Ministry of Education has ordered universities to postpone all scheduled interviews and internal examinations for postgraduate student recruitment, which are usually held soon after the results of the unified postgraduate entrance examination are released in mid-February (most of the results have been released by 22 Feb). The National Education Examinations Authority (NEEA) also announced to postpone some national exams originally planned in March, including PETS (Public English Test System) originally scheduled on 21 – 22 March. However, the Gaokao university entrance exam is currently planned to go ahead as scheduled; recent articles saying that it would be delayed until June 26th were refuted by the Ministry of Education as fake news.     

Meanwhile, guidelines for Chinese students studying overseas on publicly funded scholarships have also been announced. Now students who would have started to study overseas before 31 March, are permitted, but not required, to suspend the start of their study until that date. Students who are already overseas but whose course will finish before 31 March may postpone their return until that date and continue to receive support for living expenses. Students who have already started their course but temporarily returned to China, for example due to the Chinese New Year holiday, and are unable to get back to their place of study will also continue to receive support for the period until 31 March. Most new application deadlines were postponed one month behind the original dates.   

The above guidelines only apply to publicly funded overseas study and not to the approximately 90 per cent of Chinese students abroad who are self-funded. The Ministry's advice to self-funded students is that postponing non-urgent travel is recommended, and that students should familiarise themselves with their destination country's rules on entry and quarantine; however, these are suggestions and not requirements.   

Comment from British Council International Education Services   

UK institutions working with Chinese partners or recruiting Chinese students should be aware of current study arrangements in the country. The situation is still evolving, and it is quite possible that semester start dates will be changed again soon. For TNE providers, close discussions with partners are encouraged to identify short term solutions including online delivery.  

Wider news:   

Last week China announced the postponement of the annual “Two Sessions” of the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), which were originally scheduled for early March. No new dates were announced. Whilst not directly effecting education this news highlights that China is continuing to take serious efforts to contain the virus.  

Sources   

1. Ministry of Education: Guiding opinions on dealing with the new coronavirus epidemic through the organization and management of online teaching in colleges and universities (in Chinese) - http://www.gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/2020-02/05/content_5474733.htm   

Updated on 25 Feb: https://www.gov.cn/xinwen/2020-02/25/content_5482825.htm  

2. Ministry of Education: Ministry of Education to guide institutions on adjusting arrangements for postgraduate enrolment (in Chinese) - http://www.gov.cn/xinwen/2020-02/03/content_5474334.htm         

3. China Scholarship Council: Notice on supporting the prevention and control measures of New Coronavirus (in Chinese)   

- https://www.csc.edu.cn/news/gonggao/1801  

Updated on 20 Feb: Notice on adjusting arrangement of several public-fund overseas programmes   

- https://www.csc.edu.cn/chuguo/s/1807  

4. China Daily: Students, scholars urged to postpone travel abroad due to virus - https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202001/29/WS5e30e7c5a310128217273894.html   

5. Tencent News: Summary of each province's arrangements for the 2020 spring semester (in Chinese) - http://view.inews.qq.com/k/20200212A06GMI00    

6. The National Education Examinations Authority: Notice on postponement of 3 examinations scheduled in March (in Chinese)  

- https://www.neea.edu.cn/html1/report/20021/5982-1.htm   

7. Xinhua News Agency: The Postponement of the Two Sessions  

- https://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-02/24/c_138814427.htm  

8. Sina – Guizhou and Qinghai provinces announce plan to stagger the reopening of schools   

- https://news.sina.cn/2020-03-02/detail-iimxxstf5662766.d.html?vt=4 

9. Beijing Daily: Tsinghua university allows online thesis defence, adds August graduation session (in Chinese) - http://bjrb.bjd.com.cn/html/2020-03/02/content_12449209.htm 

British Council offices and activities  

British Council offices in China have reopened.  

All British Council China on the ground education activity in March has been postponed, moved online or cancelled. Individual institutions affected have been contacted directly. 

Update on IELTS testing  

All IELTS and IELTS for UKVI tests are currently suspended until 1 April 2020.   

Transfers, deferrals and refunds are available as appropriate for affected test takers.  They can get further information by contacting their test centre by email. 

Many test takers in these locations will be delayed in sitting a test and subsequently sending their IELTS scores to institutions. We hope that schools, colleges, universities and other institutions understand that this delay will be through no fault of the candidate and hope that they will be able to extend the application process for these applicants.  

The British Council will recommence testing as soon as allowed by Chinese authorities and will focus operations on clearing the backlog in test takers.  

If your students have registered for an IELTS test and have any concerns or questions about the arrangements for their test, please advise them to email their test centre directly.  

Market support  

We are currently exploring alternative marketing and student recruitment solutions for UK institutions where on-the-ground activities in China have been affected by the outbreak.  

If you are interested in alternative solutions or you require any support for your activities in China at this time, please contact IES.China@britishcouncil.org.cn.  

Hong Kong  

Updated 12 March  

Schools 

The Hong Kong Education Bureau (EDB) has decided that schools in Hong Kong will continue to suspend classes to 20 April at the earliest until all conditions are improved and safe for all students to return to schools.  

School principles and unions have proposed that the government reopen schools in stages when the coronavirus outbreak is stabilised. Senior secondary pupils could restart first in late April and younger students should stay at home until May. However, some representatives from the school sector raise their concerns about whether the schools are ready for reopen due to inadequate precautionary equipment (e.g. ongoing masks shortage). In response the Hong Kong government plans to meet the principles of local secondary and primary schools to discuss further arrangements. 

Many schools in Hong Kong have already switched to online learning and lessons by conference call, with assignments given out on a daily or weekly basis’, reported by Reuters. Given the fact that the exact date of class resumptions remains uncertain, the Secretary for Education said EDB would consider rescheduling this semester’s school calendar to help students make up the teaching contact hours that they missed since early February. This implicates that students may need to take extra lessons over the summer.    

Meanwhile, secondary students have begun returning to some international schools for exam preparation. Currently, international schools who have partially reopened for their students are the English School Foundation (operating 7 secondary schools across the city), Canadian International School of Hong Kong (CDNIS), and Kellett School (secondary school division). 

In terms of this year’s HKDSE exam, EDB has announced that the written examinations will go ahead as planned, starting from 27 March. The release of results for the 2020 HKDSE will be deferred by a week, from 8 July to 15 July (tentative) 

Sources:   
SED's opening remarks at press conference, EDB, 25.02.2020  https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202002/25/P2020022500760.htm?fontSize=1  

Coronavirus: Hong Kong school closures extended to April 20 at the earliest   
https://https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education/article/3052199/coronavirus-hong-kong-school-closures-extend-beyond-easter 

Coronavirus: Hong Kong secondary schools should reopen first, say teachers, as younger pupils face prospect of Covid-19 shutdown until May, SCMP, 11.03.2020 

Coronavirus: more students return to Hong Kong international school despite citywide classroom ban that means pupils at local schools must stay at home, SCMP, 10.03.2020 

Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA) Contingency Measures for the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education (HKDSE)  

EDB has announced that the written examinations will go ahead as planned, starting from 27 March. The release of results for the 2020 HKDSE will be deferred by a week, from 8 July to 15 July (tentative).  

In response to this delay, JUPAS (the local universities admission system) has also decided to delay the admissions cycle by one week. The announcement of main round offer results will now be on 10th of August. This usually kicks off a second round of applications to UK universities, with students who have missed out on a local place looking for overseas options instead. 

Sources:  

 http://www.hkeaa.edu.hk/DocLibrary/MainNews/PR_HKDSE_eng.pdf 

https://www.jupas.edu.hk/en/news/revised-important-dates-of-2020-jupas/ 

Local Universities  

University of Hong Kong -  Until the end of the teaching period on May 16, all teaching and learning will be delivered online 

Hong Kong University of Sciences and Technology - The University will resume normal administrative operations in a progressive manner from March 9, 2020, while some facilities will remain closed and teaching continues in live interactive on-line mode. 

Chinese University of Hong Kong – The Chinese University of Hong Kong continues online teaching, while services and operation of all University Departments/Units will gradually resume to normal from 2 March 2020.    

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University - Online learning and teaching will continue before the resumption of face-to-face teaching (23 March – 16 May 2020)   

• City University of Hong Kong – all face-to-face classes are suspended until further notice  

• Hong Kong Baptist University- all face-to-face classes are suspended until further notice.   

• The Open University of Hong Kong - all face-to-face classes are suspended until further notice   

• Hang Seng University of Hong Kong - further suspend all face-to-face teaching activities in this semester until further notice. Online teaching will be arranged during this suspension period    

• Vocational Training Council - all face-to-face classes are suspended until 29 March   
    
  Note:   
  (1) Local universities have advised their staff members to work from home to ensure their business operation remains as usual.  
  (2) The rest of universities did not make a public announcement regarding arrangements on deferral of class resumptions on the websites. Institutions who wish to contact those who did not list here. Please contact the Hong Kong team for further information.   

 

British Council Operations   

The British Council office in Hong Kong reopened on Monday 02 March. From Thursday 05 March, the Hong Kong office resumed some paper-based IELTS tests, with special precautionary measures in place. All customers and visitors will be temperature-checked on arrival and need to fill in a self-declaration form. For the most up-to-date information on our services, please visit our website: www.britishcouncil.hk/en/novel-coronavirus-update.  

Partial cross-border closure between Hong Kong and Mainland China  

The Government inserted a series of border restrictions effective from 03 February 2020. Please be aware of these restrictions if travelling from Mainland China and also that a manditory 14 day quarantine has been imposed. For travel advice please refer to the FCO, as per the top of this post.  

Sources:   

• Hong Kong announces new border closures, as China's coronavirus death toll overtakes SARS, CNN  

• Press release: Government enhances disease prevention and control measures with reference to WHO's advice, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR)  

• Centre for Health Protection (CHP), HKSAR  

Press release: Government to impose mandatory quarantine on people entering Hong Kong from Mainland China 
https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202002/05/P2020020500793.htm  

Macau 

At the moment there are no cases of Covid-19 in Macau (previous cases have all recovered). Education and Youth Affairs Bureau in Macau announced that classes in local schools to resume no later than April 20, senior high school pupils preparing for their university entrance examinations would be allowed to go back to school from March 30. 

Contact: Anna Lee anna.lee@britishcouncil.org.hk or Karen Hsu  karen.hsu@britishcouncil.org.hk  

  

Indonesia  

Updated 12 March   

Confirmed cases in Indonesia 

Indonesian authorities confirmed that there are 27 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and the first fatality was reported on 12 March.  This is a drastic increase as the first cases were reported on 2 March.https://www.thestar.com.my/news/regional/2020/03/11/indonesia-reports-first-covid-19-death-confirmed-cases-total-27 

https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2020/03/11/indonesia-reports-first-covid-19-death-as-opaque-communication-creates-confusion.html 

Schools and Universities 

The Jakarta Provincial Education Office first issued a circular to schools advising schools against unnecessary activities in crowds and limiting out-of-school activities. This was followed by the Ministry of Education issuing 16 protocols regarding COVID-19. Point number 14 advises schools, universities, education institutions to postpone public events or gatherings such as camping or study trips among other large-scale activities.  The Ministry of Education and Culture issued another circular advising educational institutions to “postpone activities that gather a lot of people or activities outside the education unit (camping, study tours) and “restrict guests from outside the education unit”. 

There are some school closures, and there are changes anticipated in school examination schedules though no announcements have been made yet. 

https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2020/03/06/17331591/protokol-diterbitkan-sekolah-dan-kampus-diminta-lakukan-ini-untuk-cegah 

Public events 

On 4 March the Jakarta Province Tourism Office announced that they will review all existing permits for public events.  The Jakarta One-Stop Service for Investment also stated that they will not issue any more permits for events in March and April 2020. Several organisations are taking precautionary steps that include checking of temperature, monitoring and upgrading health and safety procedures, and cancellation of events. 

British Council Activity  

British Council Study UK Fair and Career Day scheduled for 7 March 2020 has been postponed considering the rapid and drastic changes related to COVID-19 in Indonesia, as have all other events involving external stakeholders up to May 31st. For activities after May 31st, we are still planning tentatively, however with a caveat that events may be cancelled or postponed later should the situation not improve. 

The English for Indonesia activity in Kampung Ingriss has been postponed till further notice. 

We regret that at this time we are unable to meet visitors from outside Indonesia at our office. We are of course more than happy to meet online via Skype meetings. 

 Contact: Saman Imtiaz, saman.imtiaz@britishcouncil.org.my   

 

Japan  

Updated 10 March  

Confirmed COVID-19 cases in Japan  

According to the World Health Organisation, as of 10th March the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases was 514 with 26 new cases reported in the previous 24hours. https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/20200310-sitrep-50-covid-19.pdf?sfvrsn=55e904fb_2 

Public Events 

The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare have advised anyone organising large indoor events between now and the 15th March, defined in Tokyo as events with more than 500 people, to cancel or postpone. Many organisations are cancelling events taking place in March and April.  

Schools and Universities    

On the 27th of February Prime Minister Abe has all elementary, middle and high schools to close from Monday 2nd of March until the end of their spring vacations (early April). 

Study UK Spring Fair Japan 2020 

In light of the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, regrettably, the British Council has decided to cancel the Study UK Spring Fair Japan 2020 scheduled for 30 March 2020 in Tokyo.   

We are keen to support your continued engagement with Japan and are exploring alternative ways to profile institutions and to help you connect with prospective students and their families. We will be in touch with further details in the coming weeks.  

Contact  

Hal Parker, Education Services Manager, British Council Japan - hal.parker@britishcouncil.or.jp  

 

 

Malaysia  

Updated 12 March 

Malaysia’s Covid-19 cases had now soared to 149 cases.  Situation is not getting better, as the authority is currently tracking more than 5,000 Malaysians who had attended a religion event.  

Source: https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2020/03/573743/malaysia-covid-19-cases-soar-149 

Public Events 

Mass gatherings are now asked to be postponed by the Ministry of Health. This announcement is very likely to impact all the upcoming large-scale events.  

Source: https://www.edgeprop.my/content/1660633/health-ministry-mass-gatherings-should-be-postponed-immediately 

Schools and Universities 

Some educational institutions have taken precautionary measures such as cancellation or reduction of activities on campus. There are also informal reports of some schools having changed venues for their activities, holding activities at external venues rather than campuses to avoid large groups on campus premises.  

Many schools had cancelled visitation programmes and public-facing events, although the classes continue as usual.  

British Council Activities 

In light of the increasing number of cases in Malaysia and public concern, British Council Study UK Fair and Career Day has regretfully been postponed. This was scheduled for 22 March 2020. 

British Council TNE Forum scheduled for early March is now postponed.  

The Higher Education Partnership forum – will now be held online/webinar  

The British Council office is open, with business as usual on a day to day basis. 

Contact: Saman Imtiaz, saman.imtiaz@britishcouncil.org.my  

  

Singapore 

Updated 12 March 

Confirmed cases in Singapore 

Singapore has 160 confirmed cases of COVID-19. Out of these 93 people have recovered and have been discharged from hospital while 10 are in critical condition and undergoing treatment. The complete updated status of COVID-19 cases can be viewed at https://www.straitstimes.com/multimedia/graphics/2020/02/spore-virus-cases/index.html?shell 

Schools and Universities 

Educational institutions remain open; however, several have introduced strict precautionary measures that include cancellation of unnecessary meetings or activities. Most educational institutions follow the advice from the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health and have undertaken measures that include: 

• All external & inter-school activities are postponed till end of March, including the National School Games 

• No assemblies, camps or mass celebrations 

• Staggered recess times 

• Schools do not allow more than 20 persons to congregate at a time so as to follow the Ministry of Education’s restriction of maximum 30 persons in a gathering  

• Some schools do not allow more than 6 persons to gather – even while lining up for school lifts 

• Exams are held in smaller groups and not in halls 

• No unnecessary visitors to campuses 

Public events 

On 7 February, the Ministry of Health in Singapore increased the alert status to Amber. This required event organisers to postpone or cancel non-essential large-scale events. Based on this update from the Ministry of Health British Council (www.moh.gov.sg) postponed the Study UK Fair and Schools Roadshow 2020 till further notice.   

Source: https://www.moh.gov.sg/news-highlights/details/risk-assessment-raised-to-dorscon-orange 

Several organisations have introduced precautionary measures including temperature checks, cancellation of meetings, postponements of events and restricting visitors. The Ministry of Health in Singapore provides a regularly updated status report on the daily situation for all at  https://www.moh.gov.sg/covid-19 

Contact: Saman Imtiaz, saman.imtiaz@britishcouncil.org.my  

   

South Korea 

Updated on 13 March  

South Korea has 7,979 cases out of 248,647 examinations, 510 released cases from quarantine, and 67 death as of 10 p.m., 13 March. The country's alert level for COVID-19 has been raised to Red, its highest on 23 February. 

Covid-19 is spreading quickly from two clusters of infections — a branch of a religious sect in the South-eastern city of Daegu and a hospital in its neighbouring county of Cheongdo — taking up more than half of the total cases in the country. Daegu and Cheongdo were designated as “special care zones” on 21 February while the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MoHW) are focusing on eradicating the virus within Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province. 

Schools and Universities 

As a preventive measure against the spread of the virus, all schools across the nation are ordered to postpone the spring semester openings to 23 March. The government has also urged hagwon, the private education providers, to close.

The Ministry of Education reported that 255 out of 384 local universities (66.4%) postponed the start of their spring semester up to four weeks as of 14 February. After that, the government has advised them to offer the students learning online, with many universities doing this. 

Kyung Hee University, Hanyang University, and Myongji University had a student with a confirmed case for COVID-19 on 10 March. They immediately shut down and fumigated some of the facilities that the student had visited. 

Public Events

The public, religious groups, and civic organizations are also advised to refrain from engaging in collective events for public safety. 

The Ministry of Personnel Management (MPM) delivered the guidelines for mandatory remote working on shifts to 55 central administration organizations on 12 March. The national examinations scheduled in March and April such as the legislative examination and school qualification examination have been postponed to April and May. 

Some local conglomerates have either postponed the first half open recruitment (Samsung, Hyundai) or adopt the video interview system (LG, SK, CJ, Kakao, Naver). 

News Sources: 

Ministry of Health and Welfare (MoHW) http://ncov.mohw.go.kr/index_main.jsp 

S. Korea to postpone new school year as coronavirus spikes 

Korean Herald (23 February) http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20200223000311&ACE_SEARCH=1  

College students unhappy with online lectures 

Korean Herald (3 March) https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2020/03/181_285496.html 

정부 ‘공무원 교대 재택근무’ 의무화 

KBS (12 March) http://news.kbs.co.kr/news/view.do?ncd=4400387&ref=A 

Contact: Heather Eom  sunhyun.eom@britishcouncil.org.kr 

  

Taiwan 

Updated 12 March  

There are currently 48 cases confirmed of the Coronavirus in Taiwan, 26 local cases and 22 imported cases. For information on the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in Taiwan, please visit the Taiwan Centres for Disease Control website at www.cdc.gov.tw/En  

Schools and Universities  

The Taiwan Ministry of Education announced on 3 February that the dates of new terms are 25 Feb for Secondary schools and 2 March for most University levels to start the new term.   

The government has set protocols including wearing of facemasks and having temperature taken for entering schools, buildings, campuses and rooms, and those who have fevers are not allowed to enter. 

The MoE is working on a digital learning platform for under the senior high school sector. 

The school-term is running as normal, and all national exams and assemblies are continuing to happen. 

For universities, please contact the individual institution to confirm visits and events. Most universities cancelled presentation-type events. Visitors from overseas need to provide details of travel history, and no transit is allowed from China and Hong Kong. 

For public events some are cancelled while some are continuing as normal, so we recommend checking with individual organisers. A couple of examples are as follows:  

Event name	Org	Original timeline	Situation
International Education Fair	Agent - IDP	13-15 March	Proceeding
IECA 2020 International Education Fair (https://www.iecatpe.org.tw/)	International Education Consultants Association	28 – 29 March	Proceeding

 

Contact: Diane Hsu, diane.hsu@britishcouncil.org.tw  

  

Thailand   

Updated 5 March 

The number of local novel coronavirus patients remained at 33 on Friday 14 February 2020. 13 of them had fully recovered and been discharged and 20 were still in hospitals, according to the Disease Control Department. the local authority link is https://ddc.moph.go.th/viralpneumonia/eng/index.php   

Thai government response  

Surveillance and preparedness to respond to emerging infectious diseases have been enhanced in the government and private hospitals, and areas of tourist attractions.   

Schools, universities and public events   

Ministry of Education issued a guideline on 28 February 2020 to schools and authorities under their supervision. The English translation can be obtained from https://d2kyqykho7sbw6.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/06-COVID-19_MOE_Announcement_on_20_02_28_Eng.pdf   

The guideline includes the request for schools and educational institutions nationwide to postpone or avoid organising an activity that will have a large public engagement which is risky to the spread of the disease and inviting visitors or speakers from overseas. 

British Council’s operation   

The operation of British Council in Thailand in their 6 centres (5 in Bangkok and 1 in Chiang Mai) remains business as usual. English classes and IELTS and other Exams, as well as events with the public, remain unchanged.   

We have regretfully had to postpone a school counsellor workshop scheduled for 12 March, and intend to reschedule a regional conference once the situation has eased. 

Contact: Uraiwan Samolee, uraiwan.samolee@britishcouncil.or.th  

  

Vietnam  

Updated: 12 March 2020 

After 22 days without any new cases, 23 more infection cases have been recorded since 6th March. The flight VN0054 from London to Hanoi on 2nd March has had so far 13 SARS-COVID-2 patients, of whom eleven are foreigners (ten are British tourists) and two are Vietnamese.  

Vietnamese Prime Minister issued a directive on 11 March requesting stronger actions to prevent and control COVID-19 amid new developments of the outbreak in Vietnam. There will be tightened control of people entering Vietnam via points of entry by air, land and sea, and suspension of the unilateral visa exemption for citizens of, as well as for Vietnamese people and their spouses and children in Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden, the UK, France, Germany and Spain. Health declaration is compulsory for all people entering Vietnam. Those coming from or travelling through areas affected by the outbreak must be quarantined and any flights between the country and those areas, including those by foreign airlines, must be minimised. 

The Vietnamese Embassy in London will cease processing visa applications with effect of 12 March 2020 until further notice. There is uncertainty around the replacement process and timeline for such applications.  

Schools and Universities 

Many cities and provinces have asked schools to close again after opening just one week before. Many universities also close again or remain closed. Some cities, such as Hanoi, have started to broadcast lessons and lectures via television for pupils of grade 9 and 12. 

British Council’s operation 

The operation of British Council in Vietnam remains business as usual this week. However, we have been advised to be prepared in case we have to work remotely. 

News Sources:  

https://vietnamnews.vn/society/653477/pm-urges-strengthening-fight-against-covid-19-as-new-cases-emerge-in-viet-nam.html 

Contact: Lien Ta, lien.ta@britishcouncil.org.vn