Ontario university becomes first in Canada to move all classes online

Ontario’s Laurentian University is taking precautionary measures against the coronavirus outbreak and will be moving all of its classes online as of March 12.

The university, located in Sudbury, announced that events taking place on campus between now and March 13 are also cancelled.

The school is considering cancelling further events and will “communicate further shortly.”

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Five new cases of coronavirus were identified in Ontario on Wednesday, one of which is a male in his 50s in the Sudbury area.

As of 10:30 am on March 11, Ontario has 41 confirmed cases of coronavirus, with five fully resolved cases. Besides the number of recovered cases, the province has said that 465 cases are under investigation.

“The university has been monitoring the coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19) and as a precaution, we have determined that all classes as of 12:00 pm today, March 11 will be suspended,” states Laurentian University’s press release. “As of tomorrow March 12, all classes will now be moved to online delivery until further notice. We are also suspending in-person activities such as laboratories.”

The university has been monitoring the coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19) and as a precaution, we have determined that all classes as of 12:00 PM today, March 11 will be suspended. As of tomorrow March 12, all classes will now be moved to online delivery until further notice.

— Laurentian University (@LaurentianU) March 11, 2020

The mid-size bilingual university says it is taking “proactive measures to prevent the spread of this illness” due to a known-case of the virus within the community.

“We understand that changes in our day-to-day operations will create challenges and disruptions, however, we believe the risk of not taking action is of greater concern to our community,” conclude the school’s news release.

As of Wednesday morning, there were 93 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Canada.