BEIJING, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- More Chinese provinces and cities have declared they are postponing the resumption of business and school semesters to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.
On Friday, the municipal government of Wenzhou, in east China's Zhejiang Province, announced that civil servants and employees of public institutions shall start work from Feb. 9.
According to the government, Wenzhou enterprises shall not start work earlier than at midnight on Feb. 17, except for those related to epidemic control. All levels of schools, colleges and universities shall not start their spring semesters before March 1.
As of Jan. 31, Wenzhou, with a population of nearly 10 million people, had reported 241 confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection, ranking highest among all Chinese cities outside Hubei Province.
The decision was made after the State Council, China's cabinet, extended the seven-day Spring Festival holiday, scheduled to end on Jan. 30, to Feb. 2 and postponed the opening of the spring semesters.
A growing number of Chinese provinces and cities including Heilongjiang, Shandong, Guizhou, Hebei, Hunan, Shanghai and Xi'an have taken similar measures by asking enterprises, except those involved in key sectors, not to resume their work earlier than at midnight on Feb. 9, in a move to reduce crowds and prevent the spread of the coronavirus outbreak.
In the northwestern Chinese city of Xi'an, local authorities have asked enterprises to arrange their production flexibly, while employees were encouraged to work at home.
According to the provincial government of central China's Hunan on Friday, primary and secondary schools and kindergartens shall not start their spring semesters earlier than Feb. 17, and colleges and universities shall not resume class earlier than Feb. 24.
Local authorities also said that all kinds of schools (including training institutions) in Hunan are not allowed to organize any form of offline teaching, training or collective activities.
Chinese health authorities announced Saturday that 11,791 confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection had been reported in 31 provincial-level regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps by the end of Friday. A total of 259 people have died of the disease.
