290M+ students missing school due to coronavirus: UN

ANKARA

More than 290 million students have been affected by school closures across 13 countries to curb the coronavirus outbreak, the UN said Thursday.

“While temporary school closures as a result of health and other crises are not new unfortunately, the global scale and speed of the current educational disruption is unparalleled and, if prolonged, could threaten the right to education,” said Audrey Azoulay, director general of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, in a statement.

The number of affected countries have risen to 76 with Argentina, Chile, Poland and Ukraine having just reported their first cases of the virus.

Meanwhile, in a rare show of empathy between two arch-rivals, North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un Thursday sent a “consolation” letter to South Korea, the second worst-hit country after China.

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that new 438 cases of the virus, officially known as COVID-19, were confirmed until Wednesday night.

The center said 60% of the cases were linked to a branch of the country's Shincheonji religious sect in Daegu, South Korea’s fourth-largest city.

So far, 96 countries have imposed travel restrictions on South Korea.

More cases were reported across Japan, New Zealand and India taking the total to 1,000, three and 29, respectively.

New Zealand on Thursday also confirmed the first case of human-to-human transmission, local media reported.

Hong Kong confirmed its first case of human-to-animal transmission when a pet dog tested positive for coronavirus.