S. Korea's new COVID-19 cases around 26,300 with omicron in retreat

National 09:42 May 24, 2022

SEOUL, May 24 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's new COVID-19 cases continued a downward trend Tuesday, dropping more than 5,000 cases from a week ago, as the omicron-fueled surge has lost steam since mid-March.

The country added 26,344 new infections, including 43 cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 17,993,985, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.

Tuesday's tally went up 2.6 times from the previous day due to more virus tests. But it hit a 16-week low for Tuesday and declined 24.9 percent from a week earlier, in an apparent sign of the pandemic loosening its grip on the country.

South Korea's daily caseload peaked at over 621,000 on March 17, driven by the rapid spread of the omicron variant nationwide.

The country added 19 deaths from COVID-19, taking the total to 24,006. The fatality rate stood at 0.13 percent. The number of critically ill patients stood at 232, the KDCA said.