Secondary schools to suspend in-person classes coming Monday

The Education Bureau announced on Thursday that secondary schools in Hong Kong will suspend in-person classes no later than Monday, after a number of students in the city have contracted the coronavirus.

Whereas schools can exercise their discretion to arrange half-day in-person classes for secondary six students as they will face the HKDSE examination starting April 22.  

At least eight secondary schools in the territory have seen their students infected with Covid-19 as of Wednesday. The latest Covid case involving secondary school students is a secondary six student at St. Joseph's Anglo-Chinese School in Kwun Tong.  

Other affected schools include Salem-Immanuel Lutheran College, St. Francis' Canossian College, Hong Kong Tang King Po College, Kiangsu-Chekiang College, Delia Memorial School (Broadway), HKMA David Li Kwok Po College, St. Joseph's Anglo-Chinese School, and Buddhist Fat Ho Memorial College.  

Lawmaker Lawrence Tang Fei, the vice-chairman of the Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers, said a class suspension is necessary as the scale of the city's current Covid wave is likely to be the same as the last.  

He said half-day schools should not be considered an alternative given the risk of transmission will not be halved with such an arrangement.  

Meanwhile, respiratory expert Leung Chi-chiu said ventilation at schools is inadequate. He said students might contract Covid from coronavirus carriers and eventually bring the virus into different communities causing massive outbreaks.  

The health expert said authorities should immediately suspend all in-person classes to lower the risk of a city-wide outbreak.