Children who have returned from China in the past two weeks will be asked to stay away from New South Wales schools due to concerns over the potential spread of the Coronavirus.
The NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard and Education Minister Sarah Mitchell say while the risk of the virus spreading is low, they are acting as a precaution given the incubation period can be up to 14 days.
Parents will be asked, but not required to keep their children home from school if they have been in China in the past two weeks.
Coronavirus has killed 106 people and infected 4,000 globally and four of Australia's five confirmed cases are in NSW.
Two online petitions asking the Government to quarantine pupils who visited China during the school holidays have gathered thousands of signatures and are being circulated on social media platform WeChat.
The main petition already has more than 17,000 signatures and there are calls for students to be isolated at home for two weeks prior to returning to school.
[Source: ABC]
