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A new set of preventative measures amid the ongoing outbreak of COVID-19 has students in London facing class cancellations.

Classes at Western University will be cancelled until Tuesday, Mar. 17, university president Alan Shepard said in a statement Thursday night.

Any exams scheduled during the timeline will be rescheduled, he added. Classes will resume Wednesday, but will be conducted online for the remainder of the term.

Western affiliate King’s University College announced it would follow suit. Brescia University College also cancelled classes on Friday and said it plans to follow Western’s move to online courses starting Wednesday.

Huron University College, a third Western affiliate, said it will cancel classes from Friday to next Tuesday. Similar to Western, Huron plans to conduct classes online once they resume Wednesday.

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Students at Huron have also been encouraged to move out of residence and find other accommodations if they are able to.

Shepard said the university will remain open amid the cancellations.

“Facilities such as the libraries, recreation centres, food services and health services all remain open. Research efforts will continue,” said Shepard. Residences will also remain open and operational.

Discretionary events on campus scheduled until May 1 are being cancelled, postponed or offered virtually, Shepard said.

The president added that Western is working on a contingency plan for final exams.

“More information will be shared in the coming day,” Shepard said.

In an update issued Thursday night, Fanshawe College said classes would proceed as scheduled on Friday.

Later on Friday, Fanshawe announced that classes would be cancelled from Mar. 16 to Mar. 20. Classes would then move to online delivery, where possible, starting Mar. 23, Fanshawe said.

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The college added that in-person classes are set to resume April 6, a move intended to align with recent closures announced at Ontario’s publicly funded schools.

All Fanshawe College classes are cancelled for March 16 – 20 and moving to online delivery where possible as of March 23. Please continue to watch our website at https://t.co/p9fACZUtj1 and social media channels for updates.#covid19 #classcancellation #onlinelearning pic.twitter.com/egaucOax9J — Fanshawe College (@FanshaweCollege) March 13, 2020

In earlier decisions announced Thursday, Western and Fanshawe both moved to postpone their upcoming March Break open houses.

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