Hanoi University has extended its Lunar New Year holidays until February 10, and until February 17 for Chinese students, and told them they should not return to Vietnam now.

There are 490 Chinese students studying at the school, of whom 22 had stayed back in Vietnam for the festival. They are being monitored, headmaster Nguyen Van Trao said.

The University of Languages and International Studies has extended the holidays until February 10, with Chinese students being advised to stay put in China until further notice.

There are 40 Chinese students at the school, of whom one had stayed back.

The novel coronavirus (nCoV) outbreak, first detected in China last December, has since gone global and prompted Vietnamese authorities to close schools and colleges in around 50 cities and provinces, including Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. This is the first time ever such a measure has been taken due to a disease outbreak.

The government declared the outbreak an epidemic on Saturday. The country had reported 304 suspected cases as of Monday with symptoms like high fever and coughing, including some people who had visited infected areas in China. Of them 214 have tested negative for the virus and 90 are in quarantine pending test results.

There are eight confirmed cases, including one who has recovered and was discharged from hospital on Monday.

The death toll from the epidemic has reached 426 in China and one in the Philippines. Over 20,600 people have been infected and more than 600 have recovered.