Turkey is planning to relaunch face-to-face education for all elementary school students, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Monday evening following a Cabinet meeting in the capital Ankara.

He added that eighth-grade and 12th-grade students will also return to their schools.

"We are starting face-to-face education in the second, third, fourth, eighth and 12th grades in accordance with determined rules" to stem the spread of coronavirus, Erdoğan said.

Turkey will give free tablet computers to half a million students starting next week, he added.

Later in the day, Education Minister Ziya Selçuk announced that all students in elementary school, eighth grade and 12th grade will restart face-to-face education on Oct. 12.

Some students had returned to their classes on Sept. 21 as schools in Turkey partially reopened amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Schools were closed on March 16, days after the country confirmed its first coronavirus case. The 2019-2020 school year was officially declared over in June.

It was initially announced that schools would reopen on Aug. 31. However, a resurgence in infections postponed the reopening to Sept. 21 on a reduced scale.

Only kindergarten and first-grade students went back to school under restricted terms.

Turkey on Monday reported 1,603 more patients with the coronavirus and 1,320 recoveries over the past 24 hours, the Health Ministry said.

The overall patient count now stands at 326,046, with recoveries totaling 286,370, according to ministry data.

The death toll from COVID-19 reached 8,498, with 57 more fatalities recorded Monday.