CNY Holiday Extended Amid Coronavirus Outbreak

By Matthew Bossons, January 27, 2020

UPDATE (January 27, 2020 7.50pm CST): Schools of all levels in Shanghai are to reopen no earlier than February 17 at all levels, while companies are not allowed to resume work before midnight on February 9 (except companies involved in urban operations, epidemic prevention and control, supermarkets, food supply and other related industries), as stated by Gu Honghui, deputy secretary-general of Shanghai’s municipal government, at a media briefing today. For regularly updated coverage of the novel coronavirus outbreak, click here.

It’s official: The Spring Festival holiday has been extended until February 2 in China due to an ongoing outbreak of the novel coronavirus in the country, which has infected over 2,500 people and killed 80.

The public holiday for Chinese New Year 2020 began on January 24 and was originally set to conclude on the 30th.

Schools, which were originally expected to reopen on February 17, will also see their opening date postponed, according to Shine. The adjusted reopening date for kindergartens, primary and middle schools, colleges and universities will be released by the nation’s education authorities.

The decision to extend the public holiday was made on Sunday at a meeting of the leading group of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee on the prevention and control of the novel coronavirus outbreak, according to Xinhua.

Officials at the meeting noted that the country is at a critical time in its mission to thwart and control the disease outbreak, and urged government workers at all levels to take “decisive, powerful and orderly, scientific and well-planned” measures to help limit the spread of the illness.

Over the weekend it was announced that the governments of the United States and France would be evacuating their citizens from Hubei’s capital city of Wuhan, ground-zero for the outbreak of the new coronavirus.

[Cover image via China News Service/Wikimedia]