Students who have recently travelled to China told to stay home from school

Students who have travelled to China in the last two weeks have been asked to stay home from schools, early childhood centres and TAFE until after the 14-day incubation period for coronavirus ends.

Following sustained concern from parents, the NSW government on Tuesday afternoon changed their advice that students who had travelled to China but not been in contact with an infected person could go back to school on Wednesday.

NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said they would be "asking parents to keep their children at home" if they had been to any part of China in the last two weeks, and the same advice would apply to teachers.

"Many in the community have been wanting to see this. I think it is important we are taking this precautionary measure in line with community sentiment," she said.

Public school parents concerned about the spread of coronavirus had threatened to keep their children at home when school returned unless the Department of Education tightened its protocols for students who had recently been to China.

Department secretary Mark Scott said the variable 14-day isolation period would be "well manageable" and apply to the independent and Catholic school sectors as well as government schools and early childhood centres.

The Sydney Catholic Diocese, which runs 152 schools, had earlier on Tuesday joined a number of independent schools in requesting students who recently visited China to stay home until they have been cleared by a doctor and provide a medical certificate to return.

Federal Education Minister Dan Tehan initially rebuked those schools, saying their response did not reflect the advice of health professionals who said it was safe for children who did not have contact with an infected person to attend.

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said advice from health authorities remained "that there are no apparent risks to those children if they were to return to our school", but the state government was taking this "extra step" to reassure school communities.

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard (right) and NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant speak to the media.Credit: AAP

Opposition health minister Ryan Park said the government had sent mixed messages and delivered their updated response too late in the day.

"Too many people will miss it," he said. "This is a message that will take time to filter through to families [and] multicultural and non-English speaking communities."

Mr Hazzard said the government "would have liked to have been in a position to make this decision earlier".

"This is one of those really difficult times when elected officials have to weigh up all the evidence," he said.

The decision comes after P&Cs called for a more concrete response on coronavirus and at least 10 school communities started online petitions asking for families recently returned from China to keep their children isolated.

President of Hurstville Public School P&C Jason Yeo wrote to Ms Mitchell on Monday and said parents had been "in overdrive on this topic".

"I personally estimate based on parent feedback and community forums that hundreds of parents will not be sending their kids to school this week," Mr Yeo said.

Saul Deane, the P&C president at Ultimo Public School, also described the department's initial protocols as "completely inadequate".

"Everyone is talking about whether there is enough confidence to send our kids to school," he said.

Universities have declined to follow schools' lead and are telling students to listen to the guidance of Australia’s top medical officers.

Vicki Thomson, chief executive of the Group of Eight Australian universities, said there were more than 100,000 Chinese students at their universities "so we are taking a very cautious but not alarmist approach".

Testing not needed for all respiratory cases from China, top officer says

As of Tuesday evening 107 people had died from coronavirus in China and about 4500 people were infected, while thousands more are under observation. Four cases have been confirmed in NSW and one in Victoria.

NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant said while they were asking children who had been to any part of China to stay home, they would not be testing every person who had travelled there and developed respiratory illness for the virus.

However, they were extending testing to people who had been anywhere in Hubei province and not just Wuhan city, as well as people who had been in contact with new coronavirus patients and had developed symptoms.

"We are suggesting patients with underlying health conditions such as lung disease or heart disease and are elderly, frail or have health conditions as well as those who require admission to hospital in terms of severe [symptoms], we will also as a precaution rule out coronavirus infection for those cases," she said.

So far, there has been no evidence of human to human transmission in Australia and the department was speaking daily with people who had been in close contact with the four patients in NSW and were still within the two-week incubation period.

Dr Chant said parents should not rush to doctors for a clearance as it was "impossible to rule out the disease" during the 14-day incubation period.

With Nick Bonyhady

Clarification: An earlier version of this article said the Department of Education and NSW Health flipped their advice. NSW Health's advice on coronavirus has not changed, but following concern from communities the government made the decision to take a more cautious approach.