SIT’s Wuhan students isolated
The Southern Institute of Technology is putting its students arriving from Wuhan in China into isolation in an accommodation unit, but a Southland mum believes it has not acted fast enough.
Wuhan, the capital of China’s Hubei province, is the location where the coronavirus was first identified.
As of yesterday afternoon, the death toll of the coronavirus had risen to 170, there were more than 7700 confirmed cases in China and it had spread to at least 16 other countries. No cases were confirmed in New Zealand.
Southern Institute of Technology [SIT] chief executive Penny Simmonds said: ‘‘We have had, or are expecting within a few days six or seven students arriving or returning from Wuhan.
‘‘We have set aside an accommodation unit to have them in isolation.’’
Simmonds said the Ministry of Education on Wednesday recommended that any students recently arriving or returning from Wuhan be stood down for 14 days, ‘‘which we are doing’’.
An Invercargill woman told Stuff a student who has recently arrived from Wuhan was in a class at SIT for three days before being pulled out yesterday morning.
She was critical of the SIT for allowing the student to be in class.
But Simmonds reiterated that it was only on Wednesday that the SIT was advised to stand Wuhan students down, which it had done.
‘‘The student is not unwell,’’ Simmonds said.
The Invercargill woman said she had a Chinese student living with her who was in the same class as the student from Wuhan.
As a result, she was concerned her family may be at risk of contracting coronavirus so her Chinese student of seven months had offered to leave the household and the offer was accepted.
She was angry the Wuhan student was allowed to enter the country and study at SIT without first being quarantined.
Simmonds said information and advice on dealing with the issue has been coming in from authorities over the past few days.
The SIT was working on instructions from various agencies, including the Southern District Health Board, and its response was fairly standardised across the sector.
The SIT had put hand sanitisers in the language areas of the SIT and postponed Chinese New Year celebrations, she said.
‘‘The Chinese students, with recommendation from the Chinese Consulate, wished to postpone the Lunar New Year Celebrations that was scheduled for 5 Feb at Centre Stage [Invercargill].’’
The SIT, on advice from the SDHB, was also providing its students with information on good hygiene and had recommended they avoid close contact with people suffering acute respiratory infections.
They were advised to wash hands frequently, especially after contact with ill people, and avoid; close contact with sick farm animals or wild animals.
Meanwhile, The Fiordland Medical Centre in Te Anau has placed signs in front of its door asking visitors who suspect they could be infected by coronavirus to please not enter the building.
The signs suggest visitors return to their car and phone the centre before entering.
Centre practice manager Wendy Den Hertog said the note was just a precautionary measure to protect the centre’s staff and patients.
‘‘It’s good practice for anybody with an infection to avoid infecting other patients in the waiting room,’’ she said.
The centre has displayed similar signs for various infectious diseases in the past, including the recent measles outbreak.
The coronavirus notice was put up about a week ago, Den Hertog said.
Coronaviruses (CoV) are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases.