Students in Shanghai can look forward to a very long winter break with schools in the city not scheduled to resume this month because of the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak.

Earlier, the city government had said that the spring semester would not begin until February 17 at the absolute earliest.

At a press conference on Wednesday, officials pushed the date back further, announcing that schools would remain closed until at least the end of February. A specific date has not been set.

Officials also hinted at online classes being used as a possible alternative.

The move has been made to protect the health of students with gatherings of any kind disallowed at the moment to prevent the further spread of the coronavirus.

Shanghai has now reported 243 cases of the virus, infecting kids as young as 7 months old.