Yomiuri front-paged the disclosure by the Education Ministry on Thursday that a total of 1,166 elementary, middle, and high school students tested positive for the novel coronavirus nationwide from June 1 through Aug. 31 and that 924 of them were infected last month. More than half of the total reportedly caught the virus from family members, while 15% of them contracted COVID-19 as a result of cluster infections at school.  

As the virus does not appear to be spreading widely among children in their teens or younger and no students have reportedly been in serious condition, the ministry updated its infection prevention manual for schools yesterday. Under the updated guidelines, students are required to maintain a distance of 1 meter from each other instead of 2 meters as previously required. In order to head off infections in dormitories, infected students are asked not to participate in extracurricular activities until two days after their symptoms disappear completely.