by ARTHUR N. APOSTOL
The University announced last Sunday that the opening of classes for the academic year 2021-2022 was moved to Aug. 12 from Aug. 9 due to the Enhanced Community Quarantine that will be imposed in Metro Manila.
“The University of Santo Tomas will move the first day of regular classes to August 12, 2021 (Thursday), to allow our stakeholders additional time to adjust to the new restrictions,” the advisory said.
Last July 30, President Duterte approved the proposal to put Metro Manila under ECQ for two weeks, Aug. 6 to 20, due to the increasing COVID-19 Delta Variant infections in the country.
Independent monitoring group OCTA Research has reported Metro Manila as being in “serious surge” after recording 1,740 new COVID-19 cases on July 31, the highest since May 10.
As of Aug. 1, there are 13,335 active cases in Metro Manila according to the Department of Health.
Meanwhile, UST announced after that there would be no tuition increase for the academic year 2021-2022 while also temporarily deducting or suspending other fees. F
