Travel ban over virus may cost SIT $1.5m
The Southern Institute of Technology could potentially lose up to $1.5 million in tuition fees because of the travel bans in place to restrict the coronavirus outbreak in China. SIT chief executive Penny Simmonds expected a possible drop in the number of Chinese students of about 100 for the year. However, at this stage there was no confirmed drop in student numbers so there was no immediate impact. Students and institutions were awaiting the New Zealand Government’s directive regarding the travel ban, and it would be at that stage the SIT would see any likely cancellations, she said. However, the loss of 100 Chinese students through the year would cost SIT $1.5m in lost tuition fees. Since the outbreak of coronavirus in China, SIT put 19 students in isolation, all for 14 days a stipulated by the Ministry of Health. Not all the students isolated were from Wuhan, as the Government directives changed as the pandemic spread – it applied to any traveller from or via mainland China, she said. SIT is still isolating students when they arrive from or transit via China, as the Ministry of Health has asked SIT to put such students through self-isolation. In the current enrolment year, SIT will have 16 students from Wuhan. For the students who were self-isolated they neededed to avoid contact with others as far as possible and they had food delivery serivces and/or friends took food to them and left it outside their doors. The Government placed a temporary travel ban on students arriving from China on February 2. The ban originally was put in place for 14 days but had been extended for another eight days and would be reviewed every 48 hours. During a press conference in Wellington, New Zealand chinese ambassador Wu Xi said travel bans should have never been imposed. It defied World Health Organisation advice for countries not to impose trade and travel restrictions, and was inconsistently harsh compared with New Zealand’s response to previous outbreaks, such as Sars, Xi said. Xi had been talking to the Government about options for Chinese students who were unable to return to New Zealand and begin study, she said. No coronavirus cases have been reported yet in New Zealand, although the Ministry of Health continues to predict that the virus will likely reach our shores.