IDIA Offices Temporarily Closed

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The Inter-University Institute for Data Intensive Astronomy (IDIA), a partnership of the University of Cape Town (UCT); University of Pretoria (UP) and University of the Western Cape (UWC), has taken the decision to close its offices. This is in line with President Cyril Ramaphosa’s declaration of a State of National Disaster, and our decision to implement precautionary, proactive measures to minimise the risk of spreading the coronavirus (COVID-19)

One of our partners, UCT, has reported a positive case of corona-virus. No positive cases have been reported at UWC and UP as yet. UCT, UP and UWC have published slightly different policies in response to the COVID crisis. UCT has taken the decision to cancel contact classes and has moved forward the Term vacation to commence on Monday, 16 March 2020.  UP has suspended classes until further notice, and has rescheduled the academic calendar. UWC’s recess will begin on Wednesday, 18 March 2020.

The most important public health principle for our country and our institute is the containment of the virus, including avoiding social gatherings and minimising groups of people gathering in one space. Dr. Blade Nzimande, The Minister of Higher Education Science and Innovation, has announced in a statement that institutions will go on recess from 18 March 2020 and will be re-opened 15 April 2020, and that all other activities will continue as normal.

As part of our Business Continuity and as an element of Disaster Recovery, IDIA has moved all work online and will operate remotely, and all Ilifu Cloud services will continue as normal. We encourage our Ilifu users to utilise the remote support mechanisms we have set up should they require any support.

We are responsive to e-mails, and prefer this method of communication. The following details are useful for further support or communications with IDIA:

  1. University of Cape Town
  2. University of the Western Cape
  3. University of Pretoria
  4. Ilifu Support

We urge our stakeholders to remain calm, stay safe and to utilise the Department of Health’s Toolkits, World Health Organization’s Resources and the National Institute for Communicable Diseases’ COVID-19 Prevention Guidelines.

For any further enquiries please e-mail info@idia.ac.za.

1 thought on “IDIA Offices Temporarily Closed”

  1. Pingback: Link to SA Government Covid-19 Portal – Inter-University Institute for Data Intensive Astronomy

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