coronavirus-additional cases

▲ Citizens wait to receive COVID-19 tests at a state-run testing center in southern Seoul on Aug. 12, 2022. (Yonhap)

coronavirus-additional cases

New COVID-19 cases down for 4th day on fewer testing

SEOUL, Aug. 14 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's new COVID-19 cases dropped for the fourth straight day Sunday on fewer virus tests during the weekend but stayed above the 100,000 mark for the sixth day in a row amid the fast spread of a highly contagious omicron subvariant.

The country added 119,603 new COVID-19 infections, including 460 cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 21,355,958, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

The tally is down from 128,714 on Friday and 124,592 on Saturday.

The fall is mainly attributable to less testing over the extended weekend that also includes the Aug. 15 Liberation Day.

South Korea reported 57 more COVID-19 deaths, bringing the total to 25,623, the KDCA said. The fatality rate stood at 0.12 percent.

The number of critically ill patients came to 512, up from 469 a day earlier.

Daily COVID-19 cases had been on a downward trend after peaking at around 620,000 in mid-March. But new infections began to spike due largely to the lifting of virus curbs and the quick spread of the omicron subvariant BA.5.

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