Schools were reopened on Sept. 21 in Seoul, Gyeonggi-do Province and Incheon thanks to the easing of social distancing guidelines to Level 2. The photo shows students on the same day entering Yongsan High School in Seoul's Yongsan-gu District. (Yonhap News)

By Kim Minji and Yoon Sojung

Just 70 COVID-19 cases were confirmed nationwide on Sept. 21 at midnight, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters said.

The number of confirmed cases the day before recorded 82, the lowest in 38 days since 56 were reported on Aug. 13, thus the last two days in Korea have seen under 100 cases. Stricter social distancing applied earlier this month is cited for the decline.

The reduced number of cases led to the reopening on Sept. 21 of kindergartens, elementary, middle and high schools in Seoul, Gyeonggi-do Province and Incheon.

This came 27 days after the last day of physical school attendance on Aug. 25.

To minimize crowds at school and prevent the coronavirus from further spreading during the Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving) holidays later this month, all kindergartens, elementary and middle schools in Seoul and vicinity must limit student capacity to up to a third through Oct. 11 and high schools two thirds.

This means students are likely to go to school once or twice a week or biweekly.

The same rule applies for schools in other areas outside of the capital.

High school students in their final year, who have gone to school every day while other grades had to take online classes, will both attend school and have online classes this time. This is because their student records were prepared by Sept. 16 for their nonscheduled university admission.

The Ministry of Education will decide after Oct. 12 whether to extend the school attendance period by considering overall COVID-19 circumstances and developments in all regions.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Yoo Eun-hae urged active cooperation with pandemic guidelines, saying, "If you abide just a little longer by the government's disinfection guidelines thoroughly until the special Chuseok quarantine period, we can help students safely go to school every day as soon as possible and also greatly prepare the holding of the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) on Dec. 3 as scheduled without further delay."

She also asked the public not to lower vigilance against the coronavirus, especially ahead of Chuseok late this month.

kimmj7725@korea.kr