Largest Ever in 8 Days of Full In-Person Schooling... 407.4 Student Confirmed Cases per Day over 5 Days

Increase in Student COVID-19 Cases After Full Return to School... Daily Average Exceeds 400
Daily Average 8.8 More Cases Compared to Previous Week
Emergency Plan Activated but School Attendance Principles Maintained with Regional Density Adjustments

On the morning of the 22nd, when full in-person attendance begins for kindergartens, elementary, middle, and high schools in the Seoul metropolitan area, students at an elementary school in Seoul are heading to their classrooms after using hand sanitizer. Photo by Joint Press Corps

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] Eight days after the full return to in-person classes, the daily average number of COVID-19 confirmed student cases has exceeded 400.

According to the Ministry of Education on the 30th, from the 25th to the 29th, a total of 2,037 kindergarten, elementary, middle, and high school students nationwide were confirmed positive for COVID-19, averaging 407.4 cases per day.

This is the first time the daily average number of confirmed student cases has surpassed 400. It is 8.8 cases higher than the daily average of 398.6 cases from March 18 to 24. Since March, the cumulative number of confirmed student cases is 40,143.

The number of confirmed student cases by region over the five days is as follows: ▲Gyeonggi 763 ▲Seoul 483 ▲Incheon 172 ▲Busan 91 ▲Daegu 79 ▲Gyeongnam 76 ▲Gyeongbuk 67 ▲Chungnam 51 ▲Jeju 51 ▲Gwangju 43 ▲Daejeon 36.

As of 10 a.m. on the day, 99.1% of schools (20,447 schools) conducted in-person classes. Remote classes were held at 0.6% (120 schools), and discretionary holidays were observed at 0.3% (59 schools).

As of 4 p.m. the previous day, 90.6% (5.37 million) of the total 5.94 million students attended in-person classes.

There were a total of 168 confirmed cases among faculty and staff over five days, averaging 33.6 cases per day. The cumulative total since March is 2,906.

In the recent five days, there were 222 new confirmed cases among university students and 34 among university faculty and staff. Since March, the cumulative confirmed cases are 12,095 for university students and 978 for university faculty and staff.

The Ministry of Education announced in yesterday’s joint ministry 'COVID-19 Stepwise Recovery Medical and Quarantine Follow-up Response Plan' that even if an emergency plan is activated, the principle of in-person classes will be maintained, but school density will be adjusted considering regional infection situations. To increase vaccination rates among children and adolescents, vaccination centers will be operated, entrusted institutions designated, and vaccination reservation and administration methods diversified, including direct school visits.

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