S. Korea's new infections fall below 20,000 for 1st time in 6 days

SEOUL, May 22 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's new coronavirus cases fell below 20,000 for the first time in six days on Sunday in a downward trend in virus cases amid the government's effort to move the country back to pre-pandemic normalcy.

The country added 19,298 new infections, including 24 cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 17,957,697, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.

The daily tally jumped to 35,104 cases on May 17 from the previous day's 13,290 but continued to fall to 23,462 on Saturday.

South Korea's new infections have been on a downward trend in recent weeks after peaking at over 620,000 on March 17 amid the spread of the omicron variant.

The country added 54 deaths from COVID-19, putting the total at 23,965. The fatality rate stood at 0.13 percent. The number of critically ill patients fell to 229 from 235 a day earlier, the KDCA said.

kyongae.choi@yna.co.kr
(END)