‘Education ministry to decide on closure of educational institutions’

The education ministry will decide whether the educational institutions across the country will be closed for coronavirus or not, said Health Minister Zahid Malek today.

"We have recommended the education ministry to keep adequate hand sanitisers at the educational institutions, so that the students can wash their hands frequently," the health minister said during a briefing after an inter-ministerial meeting at the Secretariat office in the capital.

Earlier in a statement last week, the education ministry said it was in contact with the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research or IEDCR regarding the coronavirus situation in the country.

Any decision on the closing the educational institutions will be based on expert opinion, the statement added.

An unprecedented number of children, youth and adults are not attending schools or universities because of COVID-19. 

The governments in at least 49 countries have announced or implemented the closure of educational institutions in an attempt to slow the spread of the disease.

Death toll from coronavirus or COVID-19, which is believed to be started spreading from China's Wuhan, already reached 5,833 globally as of Sunday. Besides, 156,396 cases were reported from around the world.