SEOUL, South Korea’s new coronavirus cases declined to the lowest tally for a Saturday in three months as the country seeks to return to pre-pandemic normalcy.
The country reported 19,431 new COVID-19 infections, including 59 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 24,953,135, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.
The figure is the lowest Saturday tally since July 2, when the cases hit 10,708.
The latest virus wave, triggered by the spread of a highly contagious omicron variant, has been on a downturn since mid-August, when it peaked at above 180,000 cases.
The government lifted all outdoor mask mandates on Sept. 26, while maintaining the indoor mandates for further monitoring.
In October, the daily new cases have remained under 30,000, except for Wednesday.
Of the 19,431 new COVID-19 cases, Seoul reported 3,963 new infections and the surrounding Gyeonggi Province added 5,328. Incheon, a port city 27 kilometers west of Seoul, identified 1,062 new cases.
Imported cases sharply decreased, with the daily toll staying below 100 since Wednesday.
The figure decreased in the wake of the lifting of the COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing requirement for inbound travelers on the first day of their arrival, the last antivirus restriction for arrivals, last Saturday.
The government also scrapped the restrictions on in-person visits to nursing homes, senior care hospitals and other related facilities Tuesday.
In-person visits to such facilities had been banned since July to prevent mass infections among high-risk groups.
New deaths from COVID-19 stood at 32 on Saturday, down nine from Friday, raising the death toll to 28,646.
The number of critically ill patients came to 287, down 42 from a day earlier.
Source: Yonhap News Agency