South Korea to open schools online, reschedule college or university exam
31 March, 2020
South Korea said on Tuesday (Mar 31) it will open school classes online in a few days and reschedule its annual college entrance exams slated for November as concerns persist over the coronavirus and small outbreaks continue to emerge.
The united states has postponed the beginning of all schools' new semester 3 x from early March to Apr 6 amid a growth in confirmed virus patients.
After a big early outbreak, South Korea has largely were able to lower its daily number of new cases to around 100 or less, but infections from small clusters including churches, hospitals and nursing homes, as well as imported cases, continue steadily to arise.
Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said the united states isn't ready yet to open schools as before regardless of the government's efforts to avoid the spread of the virus.
"We regret that people have not reached levels where children can head to schools safely despite the fact that we mobilised all our capacities to substantially decrease risks of infection," Chung told a gathering of government officials, according to his office.
"It is difficult to guarantee the safety of children as the sizable number of new patients emerge each day, and there are concerns that it could spread again from schools to homes and communities."
Schools will provide online classes starting Apr 9, Chung said, vowing to ensure students' usage of technology at home to minimise any study gap. The highly competitive gross annual college entrance exam, held every October, will need to be postponed.
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 125 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, bringing the total infections to 9,786. The death toll stood at 162.
The daily tally has been hovering slightly above 100 or less for the past three weeks, however the latest number marked an uptick from 78 recorded on Monday.
Of the new cases, 60 were from the hard-hit southeastern city of Daegu, where a hospital saw more than 75 infections in the last few days, KCDC data showed.
Source: www.channelnewsasia.com
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