COVID-19 cases hit 7-month low 2 weeks after eased masking

The number of daily novel coronavirus cases in South Korea hit 5,174, its lowest count in seven months, government data showed Monday.

It marked the lowest point since June 27, 2022, when Korea counted 3,419 daily cases, according to data by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.

The latest figure has brought Korea's accumulated number of COVID-19 cases to 30.35 million.

In general, figures announced on Mondays tend to be lower due to fewer people taking tests over the weekend. Still, Monday figures have been on the decline for eight consecutive weeks, meaning there has not been a rebound in the number of Monday cases throughout the 2023 winter season. Specifically, Korea counted 7,412 cases on Jan. 30 and only 5,847 cases on Feb. 6.

The number of daily cases has declined for the past five days since Wednesday, when 17,927 daily cases were counted. Over the past week, Korea saw an average of 13,176 daily cases of COVID-19.

This decline occurred despite the partial lifting of the indoor mask mandate nationwide, effective on Jan. 30. Seoul also began resuming short-term visa issuance for Chinese citizens Saturday, following months of restrictions.

Korea reported 16 imported cases of COVID-19 Monday, with nine of the cases being entrants from China.

Notably, there were zero cases of COVID-19 found among 184 Chinese entrants who arrived in Korea with short-term visas over the weekend.

Korea saw 11 COVID-19 deaths, down from Sunday's figure of 23. The cumulative fatality rate came to 0.11 percent. There were 263 COVID-19 patients in critical condition, down from 268 the previous day.