SCHOOLS ON ALERT OVER COVID-19

[Anchor Lead]

With COVID-19 still raging on, school are growing nervous as the start of the new school year is approaching. Colleges are cancelling events and postponing the start of a new term, but their greatest concern is the influx of Chinese students due to their arrival later this month.

[Pkg]

A university library in Busan. It used to be always packed with students preparing for employment or a new school term. But now only a handful of people in masks are seen here. Most school events, such as graduations and orientations for new students, have been either cancelled or postponed indefinitely.

[Soundbite] KIM MIN-HEE(COLLEGE STUDENT) : "Graduation and orientation for new students have all been cancelled. I'm a bit sad to see the school grow so quiet."

Only a few dorm rooms are lit and very few students are spotted walking in the corridor. Some 30 foreign students who had been to China are still in isolation because the virus's incubation period of two weeks is not up yet.

[Soundbite] SHIN HYEON-IL(PUKYONG NAT'L UNIV.) : "A nurse checks their health twice a day and we hired a nutritionist to provide them with the dishes they prefer."

Nearly 5,300 Chinese students go to school in the Busan area. But college dorms can accommodate only about half of them. Around 2,700 students live in housing outside of school, making it difficult for authorities to monitor them systematically. Most colleges in the Busan area have postponed the start of the new term for two weeks and asked Chinese students to refrain from returning to Korea early.