WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th March, 2020) Washington's Georgetown University on Wednesday joined scores of schools in the United States by announcing it was suspending in-person teaching in its classrooms and introducing on-line learning until further notice amid the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
"Beginning on Monday, March 16, Georgetown University is moving all classroom instruction for all of our schools to virtual learning environments. We are suspending all in-person, on-campus classroom instruction. This will continue until further notice," the university said.
Georgetown University is following the lead of at least a dozen US universities - including Harvard and Stanford - that have already shifted to online instruction to avoid exposing students and faculty to the novel coronavirus.
Georgetown University officials issued a recommendation to its undergraduate students to return to their homes while the virtual learning environment is in place. However, university officials also said they understand if some students need to remain on campus.
"We understand that for some number of students there will be a compelling reason to remain on campus. Campus will remain open and key services will be available," the recommendation said.
According to the latest official data collected by Johns Hopkins University, more than 1,000 cases of COVID-19 have been registered in the United States, resulting in the death of 29 people. Globally, the number of confirmed cases exceeds 121,000 and 4,300 people have died from the disease.
