韩国首都圈暴发集体感染，中小学明日起全面线上开课
Residents line up to receive testing for novel coronavirus, Seoul, South Korea, August 23, 2020. /VCG
韩国副总理兼教育部长俞银惠25日表示，韩国首都圈中小学等学校从明日起暂停原先线上线下相结合的授课模式，全面转为线上开课。
鉴于近期韩国疫情复发，首都圈幼儿园、中小学及特殊学校从周三开始全面线上教学，暂定持续至下月11日。但正在备考的高三和需要基础学力支持的学生不受此限，并允许特殊学校、60人以下的小规模学校以及农渔村学校自主决定是否全面转换为线上教学。
South Korean pupils in Seoul and its surrounding areas will return to full remote learning, as the country has lately experienced a resurgence of the novel coronavirus and concerns are growing over school safety.
All school children, including those in kindergartens, in Seoul, Incheon, and Gyeonggi province will stay at home and take online classes, starting Wednesday until September 11, as a preemptive measure to slow the spread of the highly infectious virus, Yoo Eun-hae, the country's education minister announced on Tuesday morning.
The only exception is for senior students in their final year of high school, who are due to take crucial university entrance exams in early December.
A teacher gives an online class at school amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Seoul, South Korea, April 9, 2020. /Reuters
截至周一午夜，韩国报告了280例新增新冠肺炎病例，至此韩国总病例数增加到17945例。
这是韩国日新增病例掉到300例以下的第二天，但也是这个国家日增病例保持在三位数的第12天，死亡病例上升至310例。在过去两周被感染的病例里，有近200例是在校学生和学校工作人员。
大多数的新增病例集中在首尔及其附近地区，这各地区的人口占韩国总人口的一半。因此，韩国卫生部门表示，目前韩国的疫情处于全国性暴发的边缘，同时呼吁民众减少出行。
South Korea reported 280 more cases of COVID-19 as of midnight Monday, raising the total number of infections to 17,945.
The daily caseload stayed below 300 for the second consecutive day, but marked the 12th consecutive day with triple-digit growth. One more death was confirmed, raising the death toll to 310. Most of the new cases have been centered in the greater Seoul region, which accounts for half the country's population.
"The alarming emergence of mass infections since August is turning up as infections of our students and staff members," Education Minister Yoo Eun-hae told reporters.
Nearly 200 students and school staff had been infected with the virus in the past two weeks, she said.
With most of the new cases centered in the densely populated capital area, however, health authorities say the country is on the brink of a nationwide outbreak and have called on people to stay home and limit travel.
周一，首尔首次强制要求民众在室内外公众场合佩戴口罩，并下令关闭教堂，夜总会，卡拉OK吧和其他高风险场所等场所。
Seoul on Monday ordered masks to be worn in both indoor and outdoor public places for the first time, and has ordered places like churches, nightclubs, karaoke bars and other high-risk venues closed.
A man holds his son as they shop in the Myeongdong shopping district, which is nearly empty amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in Seoul, South Korea, August 24, 2020. /Reuters
疫情来势汹汹，但因为不满政府正在推进的医学院扩招等医疗政策，韩国的医生们自21日起正分批举行大规模罢诊。
据报道，韩国政府计划在10年内扩招4000名医学院学生，以更好地应对像新冠病毒大流行这样的公共卫生危机。然而，医生们却坚持认为韩国已经拥有足够的医疗专业人员，政府最好将更多的资金用于提高现有医生的收入，这样才能鼓励见习医生们离开首尔等大城市，前往需要更多专业医务人员的韩国农村地区。
周二，韩国保健福祉部长朴凌厚公开向医生们表达了恳切的请求，希望他们能尽快回到岗位上。
Health Minister Park Neung-hoo on Tuesday pleaded with thousands of doctors who have been staging walkouts to return to work.
"We sincerely ask the medical staff to promptly return to the medical ground, where the patients are awaiting," he said at a meeting.
The doctors are protesting several government proposals, including a plan to increase the number of medical students by 4,000 over the next 10 years.
The government says the plan is necessary to be better prepared for public health crises like the coronavirus pandemic, but doctors' associations have said it would unnecessarily flood the market and do little to fix more systemic problems.