S.Korea reports 19,298 new COVID-19 cases

South Korea reported 19,298 new COVID-19 cases as of midnight Saturday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 17,957,697, the health authorities said Sunday.

The daily caseload was down from 23,462 the previous day and lower than 25,425 tallied a week earlier, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

The health authorities believed that the daily caseload has been on the decline following the Omicron variant-driven resurgence, which may have peaked in the middle of March.

Among the new cases, 24 were imported from overseas, lifting the total to 32,511.

The number of infected people who were in a serious condition stood at 229, down 6 from the previous day.

A total of 54 more deaths were confirmed, leaving the death toll at 23,965. The total fatality rate was 0.13 percent.

The number of people who received two doses of COVID-19 vaccines was 44,569,425 or 86.9 percent of the total population, and the figure for those getting booster jabs was 33,262,827 people, or 64.8 percent of the population.