S.Korea's 2nd phase of school reopening set for Wednesday

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Seoul, May 26 (IANS) South Korea is on track for its second phase of school reopening on Wednesday, bringing back more than 2 million students to their schools nationwide amid the new coronavirus pandemic.

School reopening is considered one of the most important steps in the government's "everyday life quarantine" scheme, which was introduced on May 6, Yonhap News Agency reported on Tuesday.

The scheme is designed to help people learn to live with the virus and resume normal life amid relaxed social distancing.

Under the government's phased school reopening plan, schools are scheduled to resume in-person classes for the two lowest grades of elementary school, kindergarten students, middle school seniors and second-year high school students.

The estimated number of affected students amounts to 2.37 million.

About 440,000 high school seniors returned to school last week after more than two months of delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The resumption of in-person classes, however, has faced hurdles.

The latest came on Monday when a six-year-old kindergarten boy tested positive for COVID-19.

Last week, dozens of schools in Incheon and Daegu were also closed following several infections involving high school students.

To monitor and tackle potential outbreaks at schools, the Education Ministry is in close coordination with the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) and provincial education offices, said the Yonhap News Agency report.

The government is also expected to unveil a set of revised quarantine and disinfection guidelines on Wednesday in time for the second phase of the reopening.

It reassured the public that the second phase will go off without a major hitch.

As of Tuesday, South Korea has 11,225 COVID-19 cases, with 269 deaths.

--IANS

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