▲ A healthcare worker takes a nasal swab sample from a citizen holding a cakce for a COVID-19 test at a makeshift virus testing clinic in Seoul on Dec. 24, 2021. (Yonhap)

coronavirus-additional cases

New COVID-19 cases below 6,000 for 1st time in 4 days; critical cases hit fresh high

SEOUL, Dec. 25 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's new coronavirus cases fell below 6,000 for the first time in four days Saturday, apparently as a result of antivirus restrictions, but critical cases surged to another record high.

The country added 5,842 more COVID-19 cases, including 5,767 local infections, bringing the cumulative total to 602,051, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.

Saturday's tally is sharply down from 6,233 cases on Friday and 6,917 cases on Thursday.

The number of critically ill patients, however, came to a fresh high of 1,105, the KDCA said, breaking the previous record high of 1,084 tallied Friday.

The country added 105 more deaths from COVID-19, bringing the total to 5,176. The fatality rate stood at 0.86 percent.

The country also reported 81 new omicron variant cases, bringing the total to 343, the authorities said.

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