Yesterday, Southern Cross University closed its campuses in Lismore and the Gold Coast after a staff member tested positive to the coronavirus:
The Lismore campus in northern NSW and Gold Coast campus in Queensland are in lockdown to stop any potential spread of the virus after a staff member tested positive.
The decision means an estimated 8,000 students will have to study at home but are not required to self-isolate.
A university employee from the Philippines attended a series of workshops at both campuses between March 2 and 6 before falling ill.
An email was also sent to staff at the University of Queensland confirming that a student had contracted the virus:
This afternoon UQ was advised by Queensland Health that an Australian student from UQ has been confirmed with COVID-19 after returning from Europe. The student was on the St Lucia campus last Thursday 5 and Friday 6 March and was unknowingly infectious at the time.
Today, a coronavirus case has been confirmed at the University of Tasmania:
The University of Tasmania has confirmed a woman with coronavirus visited its Sandy Bay campus before she became the third person diagnosed with COVID-19 in the state…
“The University has a clear plan that when there is local transmission in Tasmania we will move to online delivery of teaching to the greatest extent possible, a model to rotate people to work from home where possible and careful management of those circumstances where people need to work on campus.”
A Latrobe University student has also tested positive:
A student at Melbourne’s La Trobe University, at the Bundoora campus, has tested positive for coronavirus.
The student has attended class within the past week, and is receiving medical treatment. All other staff and students who have been in contact with the infected student have been identified and asked to self-isolate, the university said in a statement on Thursday.
Whereas Universities Australia has told the 900 delegates who attended its annual conference in Canberra two weeks ago that one attendee has been diagnosed with the coronavirus:
UA, which is the peak body of 39 universities, emailed delegates Thursday morning that the delegate became ill on March 1, three days after the conference ended on February 27.
Attendees included federal Education Minister Dan Tehan, Opposition shadow education minister Tanya Plibersek and former High Court justice Michael Kirby, all of whom addressed the conference at the National Convention Centre Canberra.
Delegates also attended the conference dinner at Parliament House on February 26 where many parliamentarians were present as guests.
Soon, the entire university sector will have to go into shut down. And to think, only last month these same universities were lobbying the government to relax the China travel ban.
