Exams to recruit middle and high school teachers took place as scheduled on Saturday nationwide even as a cluster of COVID-19 infections has been reported at a major cram school in Seoul's Noryangjin area.

The Education Ministry said the tests to recruit public school faculty members for the 2021 academic year would go on as planned.

About 60-thousand people applied for the test, to take place at 110 test sites across the country, under strict guidelines to prevent further infections.

Confirmed COVID-19 patients were not allowed to sit for the exam, but those subject to virus tests or in self-quarantine were able to take the exam at separate locations with ambulances on standby for contingency situations.