CASES RISE AMONG STUDENTS

[Anchor Lead]

COVID-19 infections are increasing among students. Cases are rising among elementary school students who are unvaccinated while infections decline among middle school students for whom vaccine shots are under way.

[Pkg]

This elementary school in Seoul is where a student tested positive for COVID-19 on Dec. 9. Since then, 24 students and three teachers have been infected. Classes for all grades switched to online lessons. There’s particularly a steep rise in infections among grade schoolers. Their case numbers stood at 1,835 in the final week of November. This doubled in 2 weeks to reach 4,325 last week. There's an uptick in breakthrough cases among high school seniors who took the college entrance exam as 4 months have passed since their last jab. The infection rate among 18 year olds was 103 out of 100-thousand in the last week of November. This has nearly doubled to surpass 199 last week. Middle schoolers are the only age group among all students reporting a decrease in infections. Their case number has slightly dropped from 1,650 to 1,500 in the past two weeks. Authorities attribute the decline to ongoing vaccinations for 12 to 15 year olds. 53% of this age group have received at least one dose while a third have been fully vaccinated. Health officials aim to ramp up inoculations as much as possible during winter break before deciding whether to fully resume in-person classes.

[Soundbite] Sohn Young-rae(Central Disasters Management HQs) : "There is no way to avoid infection while carrying out classes as normal without being vaccinated."

For now, authorities have no plans to vaccinate 5 to 11 year olds. They are making preparations such as analyzing examples in other countries such as the US and Israel where shots for the younger age group have begun.