NEWS BRIEF

[Anchor Lead]

The Korea Central Disease and Prevention Agency announced today that 54 new confirmed cases were reported yesterday at the temporary screening centers in Seoul and surrounding areas. The number accounts for 12.9% of the 417 local cases and 18.5% of the 292 cases from the capital region. That brings the total of cases confirmed at temporary screening sites in the Seoul metropolitan region between December and today to 5,701.
The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education announced today that at the principals’ discretion, kindergarteners and first and second graders will come to school every day in the new school year starting next month. The educational authorities said the academic schedule will start normally in March and kindergarteners and first and second graders will not be subjected to classroom size restrictions as long as the social distancing measures remain in level 2. In an attempt to contain the disease more tightly, the Education Office also mandated schools to spend more than 10% of their operating expenses on disease control measures and decided to deploy roughly 9,000 quarantine personnel to schools.