The UK's highly esteemed Cambridge University has become the first institute in the country and one of the first universities in the world to announce that all its lectures will be delivered online for the whole of the next academic year amid COVID-19 fears.

The university, which shut down its campuses in March after government advice, said teaching will be delivered virtually until summer 2021 but some small teaching groups could take place in person with social distancing measures in place.

"Given that it is likely that social distancing will continue to be required, the university has decided there will be no face-to-face lectures during the next academic year," the university said.

The university has said it could review its decision if the governments stance on social distancing changes.

Cambridge's Vice-Chancellor Stephen Toope said in a statement last week that everyone must be realistic about the world-wide challenges posed by the pandemic. "University life here, as everywhere, will need to adapt." He added.

University ministers in the UK said earlier this month that they could still charge full fees as long as the levels of online teaching were sufficient. 

But Nicola Dandridge from the Office for Students warned against misleading promises of an "on campus experience - when it turns out that's not the case."

Check out The Pandemic Playbook, CGTN Europe's major investigation into the lessons learned from COVID-19