Royal Holloway has cancelled its annual Science Festival which was due to take place at its Egham campus on Saturday 7 March. However, the university has stated that all other activity will continue as normal on campus.
The event, which sees staff and students from the university provide local school children with talks and experiments, is one of the major events on the academic calendar.
The decision was made upon advice issued by the Chief Medical Officer Chris Witty on Thursday morning. The professor was speaking to parliament’s Health Select Committee on the 5th of March.
Professor Paul Layzell, Principal of Royal Holloway, said: “The health and well-being of our students, staff and our community is of utmost importance to us.
“Whilst we are disappointed to cancel our annual Science Festival, we feel it is the right decision to take as a precautionary measure after the Chief Medical Officer advised that the government has moved into the next phase to help slow the spread of coronavirus.
“We continue to monitor the outbreak of coronavirus and are following advice from Public Health England and the National Health Service (NHS).
“At this time, all other activity at Royal Holloway continues as normal and we are ensuring that our students and staff are aware of the government’s advice about coronavirus.”
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