S. Korea's new COVID-19 infections fall below 10,000

People ride on duck boats in Seoul's Han River, Saturday. Yonhap

Daily new COVID-19 cases fell below 10,000, the health authorities said Sunday amid the country's push to return to a pre-pandemic normalcy.

A total of 9,835 infections, including 48 from overseas, were confirmed nationwide for the previous day, bringing the total caseload to 18,163,686, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA)

The daily count is down from 12,048 announced for Friday. Usually, there are fewer tests conducted on weekends and holidays.

Daily infections in the nation have shown a downward trend after posting an all-time high of over 620,000 in mid-March.

The death toll rose to 20 for Saturday, up from nine a day earlier for a fatality rate of 0.13 percent; while the number of critically ill patients also declined to 136 from 141, the KDCA said.

In recent weeks, the health authorities have taken a series of measures to return to normalcy as the pandemic wanes.

On June 1, the government began to shut down most makeshift COVID-19 testing stations across the country. It plans to increase the number of private clinics and local hospitals designated for treatment.

In its latest measures announced Friday, the government said it will lift a seven-day quarantine mandate for unvaccinated arrivals from overseas June 8.

The move is part of the government's efforts to restore pre-pandemic normalcy and in line with border re-openings in other countries.

Despite the lifting, international arrivals are still required to take one polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test within three days of their entry into South Korea.

The government said it will also fully normalize the number of international flights and lift the curfew for arrivals at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, Wednesday.

Rapid antigen tests that had been required for inbound travelers by the end of the first week of arrival are now a recommendation.

Of the 9,787 locally transmitted cases, Gyeonggi Province reported 2,189, Seoul accounted for 1,719, and Incheon, 40 kilometers west of the capital, saw 398.

As of Saturday, 44.59 million, or 86.9 percent of the population, had completed the full two-dose vaccination protocol, and 33.3 million (64.9 percent), had received their first booster shots, the KDCA said.

More than 4.1 million people, or 8.1 percent, have had their second booster shots, the health agency said. (Yonhap)

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