ANKARA

South Korea said Tuesday it will switch to online education for hundreds of thousands of students who have been at home because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The country’s education ministry said online lessons for students up to high school will be begin April 9.

The new academic session was supposed to begin in early March but the pandemic delayed those plans three times for five weeks.

The government closed schools to avoid spread of the infection as 163 people, mostly seniors, died from the virus since its beginning of the outbreak.

Authorities will implement self-quarantine on passengers coming from overseas.

South Korea has recorded 518 imported cases, including 42 foreign nationals.

A number of countries, including Turkey, have switched to online lessons to avoid the spread of the virus that has killed more than 39,000 globally and affected 179 countries and territories.