305 Students Confirmed COVID-19 Positive in Last 5 Days... Emergency Ahead of Suneung

Average of 305.8 Cases Per Day, Down 45 from Previous Week
524 Cases Recorded in One Day on the 2nd

On the 9th, citizens continued to visit the temporary COVID-19 screening clinic in front of Seoul City Hall to get tested. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases among students nationwide from kindergarten to high school has been recorded at 305 over the past five days. With the proportion of confirmed cases among teenagers increasing, education authorities remain on high alert.

According to the Ministry of Education on the 9th, a total of 1,529 students nationwide tested positive for COVID-19 from the 4th to the 8th, averaging 305.8 cases per day.

Compared to the previous week’s daily average of nearly 350 cases, the number of confirmed cases has decreased by about 45. Even with the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) just nine days away, the number of confirmed cases remains in the 300s. On the 2nd, the daily number of confirmed cases reached a record high of 524.

An official from the Ministry of Education stated, "The number of confirmed cases is on the rise, with infections increasing among teenagers and those aged 60 and above. Among teenagers, confirmed cases are mainly occurring in the first and second years of high school, excluding the third-year students." They added, "Remote classes can be flexibly implemented depending on the regional infection situation by city and province."

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education sent an official letter on the 4th allowing remote classes for third-year high school students, and many schools in Seoul are conducting remote classes for these students. Starting from the 11th, one week before the CSAT, all high schools nationwide will switch entirely to remote classes.

The number of confirmed student cases by region over the past five days is as follows: Gyeonggi 576, Seoul 451, Incheon 107, Chungnam 90, Chungbuk 58, Gyeongnam 45, Gyeongbuk 44, Daegu 34, and Busan 33.

As of 10 a.m. on the day, 99.2% (20,287 schools) of the 20,447 nationwide kindergartens, elementary, middle, and high schools were conducting in-person classes. In the metropolitan area, 98.8% and in non-metropolitan areas, 99.4% of schools held in-person classes.

Schools conducting full remote classes numbered 122 (0.6%), and 18 schools (0.3%) were on discretionary closure. The schools implementing remote classes were mainly in Seoul (34 schools), Gyeonggi (23 schools), Chungnam (17 schools), and Incheon (12 schools), in that order.

As of 4 p.m. the previous day, 79.2% (4.7 million) of the 5.93556 million students nationwide attended school.

The number of confirmed cases among school staff over the past week is 75, with a cumulative total of 2,254.

Newly confirmed university students number 127, and university staff confirmed cases are 13. Since March, the cumulative confirmed cases among university students total 11,146, and university staff total 834.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.