The reopening of around 200 elementary and middle schools in the nation, including in Seoul, has been postponed after several children and some teachers have tested positive for COVID-19. 

According to the Education Ministry on Tuesday, the measure affects seven institutions in Seoul, 185 in North Gyeongsang Province and one in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province. 

The Seoul institutes are all elementary schools located in the capital’s western Gangseo district, where a kindergartner was diagnosed with the virus earlier in the day. Four kindergartens in the district were also ordered to delay reopening by a week. 

The most-affected area is Gumi in North Gyeongsang Province, where a total of 181 primary and middle schools will reschedule their reopenings after a private cram school instructor and kindergarten teacher in the region contracted the disease. 

Two elementary schools and two middle schools in another North Gyeongsang city, Sangju, are also required to postpone after 33 people in the area, including students and teachers, came into contact with a patient. 

A teacher at an elementary school in Bucheon tested positive for the virus, causing that school to delay reopening as well. 

After third-year high school students returned to classrooms last Wednesday, 
those in their second year in high school, third-year middle school students, first and second grade elementary school students and kindergarteners are scheduled to return on Wednesday.