University of Sheffield to temporarily suspend face-to-face teaching after spike in Covid-19 cases

All teaching, with the exception of clinical teaching, will move online from Friday, October 9, with face-to-face teaching resuming from Monday, October 19.

Sheffield University said it made the decision in response to the “increase in Covid-19 cases in the city and within our university community.”

As of today, Tuesday, October 6, a total of 583 students and six members of staff at the university have tested positive for Covid-19 with figures growing by the day.

“We’re temporarily moving all teaching online, with the exception of clinical teaching, from Friday 9 October, with face-to-face teaching resuming from Monday 19 October, in response to the increase in Covid-19 cases in the city and within our university community,” the University of Sheffield said.

"Face-to-face teaching scheduled for Wednesday 7 October and Thursday 8 October will continue as normal.

“Our campus, services and facilities, such as student support, the libraries and cafes, will remain open throughout this period and research activity will continue as planned. All lab and studio based teaching will be paused or moved online for this transition period.

"Health and Safety continues to be our top priority as it has been throughout the pandemic. We will use this transition period to put in place additional risk mitigation measures that will allow for the resumption of face-to-face teaching on Monday 19 October.

"Students have told us about the benefits of face-to-face teaching and we believe it is the best method for learning together on campus. We will be working hard to resume these activities as soon as possible, whilst still keeping footfall and risk of infection to a minimum.

"We’ll continue to give support and guidance to all our students during this transition and continue to ask students to notify us if you are self-isolating or experiencing symptoms as detailed in our guidance: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/autumn-term-2020/safety.”

Sheffield Hallam University announced yesterday that 369 students and four employees had contracted the virus.

The instition said that it would be increasing its online teaching provision for the next two weeks in light of the increased coronavirus transmission figures.

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