Six Days After School Reopening, 30,000 Students Confirmed COVID-19 Daily... 82% of Students Attended School

37,000 Fewer Students Attended School for 7 Days Than on the First Day of the New Semester
Confirmed Cases Among Students and Staff Increased 30-Fold Compared to December
88% of Schools Conducted Full Attendance Classes, 82% of Students Attended

As the spread of the COVID-19 Omicron variant continues, on the 2nd, when elementary, middle, and high schools reopened, parents at Geumyang Elementary School in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, watched their children moving to classrooms. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] Since the start of the new semester, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases among students has approached 30,000 over the past six days, increasing 30 times compared to December. This week, 88% of kindergartens, elementary, middle, and high schools nationwide have fully reopened, but only 82% of students attended in-person classes.

According to the Ministry of Education on the 8th, as of the 7th, 88.1% (17,894 schools) conducted full in-person classes. Schools that held partial remote classes accounted for 9.6% (1,955 schools), fully remote classes were 1.8% (334 schools), and discretionary holidays were 0.6% (128 schools).

On that day, 81.9% (4.82 million) of students attended in-person classes. Kindergartens had the lowest attendance at 77.8%, followed by elementary schools (81.3%), middle schools (81.8%), and high schools (85.2%).

Compared to the first day of the new semester on the 2nd, the number of schools conducting full in-person classes decreased by 325 schools (1.6 percentage points) on the 7th. The number of students attending in-person classes dropped from 5.19 million (88.1%) on the 2nd to 4.82 million (81.9%) on the 7th, a decrease of 370,000 (6.2 percentage points).

During the six days following the start of the new semester (March 2?7), the average daily number of confirmed COVID-19 cases among kindergarten, elementary, middle, and high school students was 29,100. This is 30 times higher than the average daily confirmed cases (963.1) during the largest scale last semester from December 9?15.

By school level, elementary students had the highest number of cases (15,103.2), followed by middle school students (6,216.2), high school students (6,149.7), and kindergarteners (1,483.2). By region, Gyeonggi-do had the highest number (18,910), while Sejong had the lowest (603).

The average daily COVID-19 incidence rate among students over the six days was 489.7 per 100,000 people. Elementary students had the highest rate (565.2), followed by high school students (473.1), middle school students (460.2), special school students (406.3), and kindergarteners (254.6).

With the nationwide surge in confirmed cases, the number of infected school staff also increased sharply after the new semester. The average daily number of confirmed cases among staff was 2,409.2, which is 30 times higher than the average daily staff cases of 80.7 from December 16?22 last year.

89.4% of students recorded their health status using the self-diagnosis app. Among them, 4.6%, or 268,610 students (including cumulative cases), were advised to refrain from attending school.

Over the recent six days, the average daily confirmed cases among university students were 1,103, and among university staff were 177.8.

The Ministry of Education operates 24 mobile PCR testing sites nationwide to shorten the PCR testing time for students and staff, and 93 mobile specimen collection teams visit schools when large-scale contacts occur within the school.

On the 8th, the Ministry of Education held an emergency inspection and support meeting with metropolitan and provincial offices of education to check the supply status of rapid antigen test kits by region for proactive testing, review plans for securing additional supplies, ensure compliance with distribution schedules, and support stable provision to students and staff.

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