South Koreans return to school amid virus outbreak

South Korean students started time for schools Wednesday as their country prepares for a new normal amid the coronavirus pandemic.

In a reminder that time for normalcy won't be easy, students in some schools near Seoul were quickly asked to leave and return home after two students were found to have contracted the virus. South Korean health authorities on Wednesday reported 32 new cases over a 24-hour period, the first time the daily jump has been above 30 in greater than a week.

Hundreds of thousands of high school seniors entered their schools after having their temperatures checked and rubbing their hands with sanitizers on Wednesday morning. Students and teachers are required to wear masks in classrooms, and some schools installed plastic partitions at each student’s desk, in line with the Education Ministry.

Lower-level students were set to return to school in phased steps by June 8.

South Korea’s new school year was supposed to get started on in early March, but it was delayed many times because of worries about the spread of the coronavirus. About 5.4 million students in South Korea have already been subsequently taking classes online.

At Seoul’s Kyungbock SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL, Cho Hee-yeon, the education superintendent in the administrative centre, used a digital ear thermometer to check students’ temperatures at the main gate while another official located liquid sanitizer on the hands of these students. Signs that read “No outsiders are permitted to enter the institution premises” were create.

“I am here to see students returning to school while praying that there won’t be any coronavirus patients among our students in 2,200 schools” in Seoul, Cho Hee-yeon, Seoul’s top education superintendent, told reporters.

Students at 66 schools in Incheon, just west of Seoul, had to leave after two students at among the schools tested positive for the virus Wednesday. Both students didn’t attend school on Wednesday, but authorities made a decision to temporarily close all schools within their neighborhood as students there may attended in contact with both infected students earlier, based on the Incheon Metropolitan City Office of Education.

South Korea relaxed a lot of its social distancing rules in early May. Nonetheless it quickly saw a tiny but sudden spike in new infections associated with nightclubs in Seoul. Those latest outbreaks had been on a downward trend until Tuesday.

The country has confirmed a lot more than 11,000 coronavirus cases, including 263 deaths.