UK head of suspended Hong Kong school reassures parents amid virus outbreak

The British-born head of a Jewish school in Hong Kong suspended to stem the spread of Coronavirus has sought to reassure parents in a video message.

The city’s authorities said on Tuesday that all schools would remain suspended until at least 20 April during a containment phase.

The Carmel School Association’s headteacher Rachel Friedmann, who was previously the deputy of London’s Hasmonean High School, urged parents and staff to “remain upbeat and positive” in a video message after the announcement.

“Let’s keep our spirits. Let’s keep our good humour, most importantly,” she said. “Let’s connect as a community and let’s continue to do our very best for each and every child. It will pass. Things will get better. Let’s work together.”

The school, which has been suspended for over three weeks, has continued to offer lessons to pupils remotely online.

” I understand that students are eager to go back to school to have lessons with their classmates,”the city’s education secretary Kevin Yeung said on Tuesday.

But he added: “The World Health Organisation and virus experts all expect the epidemic to last for some time, extending class suspension is currently the most appropriate decision to safeguard students’ health.”

In the UK a total of 13 people tested positive for the virus known as Covid-19, which has claimed the lives of nearly 2,700 people in China.