SEOUL | South Korea on Tuesday ordered all schools in Seoul and its region to reconnect with distance education to stem the new wave of coronavirus cases.
The South Korean government has long achieved very good results in the fight against COVID-19 through an extensive strategy of screening and tracing contacts of infected people.
In recent weeks, the country has been facing a resurgence of the epidemic, after the appearance of outbreaks of contamination, most of them linked to Protestant churches.
South Korea on Tuesday reported 280 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the national toll since the start of the epidemic to 17,945 people infected.
This is the twelfth day in a row with a number of contaminations exceeding a hundred, after several weeks during which the figures fluctuated between thirty and forty.
The majority of new coronavirus cases are located in the greater Seoul area, where half of the population of the country of 52 million live.
Authorities have announced that classes at schools in Seoul and Incheon, as well as in Gyeonggi Province, which surrounds the capital, will be back online as of Wednesday. This measure is scheduled until September 11.
“The worrying appearance since August of a huge number of contaminations has resulted in infections of our students and staff,” nearly 200 people in the past two weeks, said Education Minister Yoo Eun. -hae to reporters.
The only students authorized to continue face-to-face lessons will be high school students who must take the university entrance exams at the beginning of December.
The army has also stepped up its measures, making it compulsory for soldiers to wear masks in public, inside and outside.
Last week, restriction measures were tightened in Seoul and its region. They were extended Sunday to the whole of the territory.
Nightclubs, museums, karaoke bars are now closed while large gatherings and religious ceremonies are prohibited. Sporting matches are again being played behind closed doors.
Authorities have threatened that these rules will be tightened, including the closure of businesses, if the number of new cases continues to grow rapidly.