High school teacher tests positive, school shuts down

ICHEON -- A high school teacher in the suburban city of Icheon has tested positive for the new coronavirus, city authorities said Tuesday, prompting the school to shut down and run screening tests for students and faculty.

The 28-year-old who teaches at Icheon Jeil High School in Icheon, 80 kilometers south of Seoul, had shown symptoms, such as muscle pain and fever, before testing positive for the infectious virus, according to city officials.

The school has temporarily shut down. Health authorities have set up a screening center at the school and are conducting virus checks on around 1,130 school faculty members and students.

The teacher is known to have commuted from the eastern Seoul ward of Gangdong to the school in Gyeonggi Province.

In precautionary measures against the virus, the government had suspended in-person classes at elementary, middle and high schools, and run online classes.

In a procedure involving four phases, students returned to schools between May and June as new infections appeared to be slowing. (Yonhap)