South Korea’s cautious school re-opening was off to a bumpy start on Wednesday when students at 66 schools in Incheon, the port city west of Seoul, were sent home only three hours after arriving after two students tested positive. The Education Ministry has not decided when Incheon students can return to school, as it contract traces the two infected students. Classes re-started on Wednesday across South Korea for the first time since December 2019 – or at least some classes, with only high school seniors returning. After the high school seniors, other grades will return to classes in a phased process in the weeks ahead. Teachers with thermometers and hand sanitisers welcomed seniors at school gates, checking each student for signs of fever. Some of the 17-18 year-olds put their arms around their friends’ shoulders as they were reunited, only for teachers to tell them to keep their distance. Private sanitation contractors on motorcycles drove back and forth spraying disinfectant. Under the new sanitation rules, students and teachers must wear masks except at mealtimes and clean their desks, which will be spaced 1 metre (3 feet) apart. As of late Tuesday, about 236,000 people signed a petition on the presidential website, requesting a delay in the reopening of schools due to the possibility of the much-feared “second wave” of the pandemic.