Friday, March 13 2020 16:26

ArmInfo. UNESCO has organized a global videoconference for high-level officials in the field of higher education in order to prevent the spread of Coronavirus and  the sharp increase in the closure of schools and universities. This  was reported by the press service of the RA Ministry of Education and  Science.

Representatives of 73 countries, including 24 Minister of Education  and 15 Deputy Ministers, attended the videoconference. Artur  Martirosyan, Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and  Sports represented Armenia, through video broadcasting. The purpose  of the conference is to enhance rapid response in emergency  situations and exchange information on developing strategies to  minimize learning disruptions around the world.

According to UNESCO, twenty-nine countries have shut  schools nationwide, impacting almost 391.5 million children and  youth. A further twenty countries have implemented localized school  closures to prevent or contain the spread of COVID-19. Should these  countries also order nationwide school and university closures, it  would disrupt the education of more than 500 million additional  children and youth. 

According to the Russian Federal Service for Surveillance on  Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing (Rospotrebnadzor), the  total number of cases in the world exceeded 132 thousand people.   Apart from China, Coronavirus has been recorded in 111 countries and  51,753 cases have been recorded. Almost the entire increase in new  cases occurs in countries outside of China (6,708 cases, 14.9%). In  addition, over the past day, for the first time, cases of  Ccoronavirus infection have been reported in Guyana (one; from the  USA) and Cuba (three; from Italy).