Wuxi in East China's Jiangsu province announced plans to delay the start of the spring semester in all schools and to extend the Spring Festival holiday with the aim of containing the spread of the novel coronavirus outbreak.

The new semester for all colleges, schools and kindergartens in Wuxi will start after Feb 17, according to a notice from the province's education department on Monday.

The local government also announced on the same day that all enterprises in the province will start operations no earlier than Feb 9 in a response to the central authority's call to extend the Spring Festival holiday amid the novel coronavirus epidemic.