Education ministry hires 61,000 workers for anti-virus measures at schools

Published : Mar 7, 2022 - 11:40 Updated : Mar 7, 2022 - 12:00

Rapid antigen test kits are distributed at an elementary school in Daegu, 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul, last Wednesday. (Yonhap)

The education ministry has hired about 61,000 people to take care of anti-virus measures at schools in the first semester, officials said Monday.

The number represents 87.3 percent of a total of 76,696 anti-virus workers the ministry plans to hire for temperature-taking, visitor control, disinfecting work and rapid test kit handling at schools across the nation.

The ministry also plans to hire an additional 1,800 temporary school nurses and supporting workers.

Schools across the country reopened last week for the new spring semester amid record-high daily COVID-19 infections.

The ministry has also put into operations special omicron response teams comprising nearly 1,300 retired school nurses and infectious disease prevention experts. Each team, expected to be composed of four members, will provide support for schools in their own contract tracing and other virus containment efforts in the event of a virus outbreak. (Yonhap)