Hundreds of schools in the greater Seoul region have postponed or suspended plans to welcome back students this week as part of a phased reopening plan due to a series of new coronavirus cluster infections in nearby areas.

The Education Ministry on Tuesday said as of 10 a.m., 534 schools, including kindergartens, have pushed back related schedules. 

According to the ministry, 99 percent of them are located in capital area. Only three of the schools are in Busan, Gumi and Gyeongsan in North Gyeongsang Province.

Over 250 of them are in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, where a cluster linked to a Coupang logistics center broke out, and 242 schools are in Incheon, which is facing a growing number of coronavirus cases linked to church meetings. In Seoul, 27 schools will not reopen as scheduled.

The affected schools in the Seoul metropolitan area account for two-point-six percent of all 20-thousand-902 preschools, primary and secondary schools nationwide

First-year high schoolers, second-year middle schoolers and third and fourth-graders in elementary school are scheduled to return to classrooms as part of the third phase school reopening on Wednesday.