SEOUL– South Korea’s new COVID-19 cases dropped below 90,000 on Sunday, while the number of critically ill patients reached its highest level since late April.
The country added 85,295 new COVID-19 infections, including 363 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 22,983,818, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.
It marked a decline from 101,140 on Friday and 95,604 on Saturday. Daily cases fell as low as 59,028 on Monday but rebounded to above 100,000 throughout most of last week.
The country reported 70 COVID-19 deaths, bringing the death toll to 26,569, the KDCA said. The fatality rate stood at 0.12 percent.
The number of critically ill patients reached 581, its highest level since April 26.
As of 9 p.m. Sunday, the country had reported 41,930 additional infections, down 14,444 from the same time the previous day, according to health authorities and provincial governments. Daily virus cases are counted until midnight and announced the following morning.
The recent decline in new infections raised cautious optimism that the latest virus wave may have peaked. But authorities remain on high alert over a possible resurgence in the COVID-19 pandemic this fall.
Of the locally transmitted cases, Seoul reported 13,052, and Gyeonggi Province that surrounds the capital added 19,840. Incheon, a port city 27 kilometers west of Seoul, identified 4,335 new cases.
Since the first local confirmation of COVID-19 on Jan. 20, 2020, the country has gone through multiple major waves of the virus.
The latest wave came during the height of the summer vacation season, fueled by the highly transmissible omicron subvariant BA.5 and eased virus curbs.
Amid signs that the latest virus wave may have peaked, the government is considering scrapping the mandatory pre-travel COVID-19 test requirements of inbound travelers to South Korea.
“We are reviewing abolishing the pre-travel test requirement (of inbound travelers),” a government official told Yonhap News Agency. The official said the government will soon reach a conclusion following a meeting of the quarantine management committee.
Source: Yonhap News Agency