While the coronavirus outbreak is still impacting the society, PolyU staff, students and alumni have dedicated efforts in the fight against the epidemic. The University not only takes care of the health and safety of students and staff, and their learning and teaching arrangements, but also makes an effort to serve the wider community at this crucial moment.

To minimise the risk of infection, the University has arranged online teaching and e-learning to replace face-to-face classes since 10 February, while online education support and progress assessment mechanism have been put in place to guarantee quality learning and teaching.

The University has also strengthened prevention and control measures, such as setting up remote infrared body temperature measurement system at various entrances of the University. The system was developed for the Facilities Management Office by a team led by Dr Wallace Lai of PolyU’s Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics. Based on the works of Dr Steven Tsang from the Department of Building and Real Estate and a local university, Dr Lai’s team successfully developed the system in a short time. Other measures include body temperature checks at entrances of Student Halls of Residence, mandatory declaration of health condition and travel history, and 14-day self-quarantine for those who meet the requirements.

Outside campus, PolyU staff and students also show their care to the needy in the midst of the epidemic. While hand sanitizers were in short supply, Dr Joseph Yung, Associate Head of the Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology, led colleagues and students to produce hand sanitizers and distributed them to the elderly and the underprivileged through the Social Welfare Department.

Upholding the spirit of serving the community with professional knowledge, PolyU computing alumnus, also Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Aurora Mobile Limited, Mr Luo Wei-dong, has developed the outbreak analytic and monitoring systems. The systems will not only be able to identify high-risk groups based on their mobility behaviour characteristics, but also enable the monitoring of migration outflows from high-risk areas and predict future migration patterns. The systems will cover a total of 334 cities in the mainland. Currently, the systems have provided data support to assess the progress of epidemic prevention efforts in many mainland regions, which will help better prevention of the spread of the coronavirus.

Together, PolyU members will continue to contribute their strengths to serve the community and fight against the epidemic.