▲ Musicians perform at the 2022 Asia Song Festival in a Han River park on Oct. 14, 2022. The annual festival was held for the first time in three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Yonhap)

coronavirus-additional cases

S. Korea's new COVID-19 cases below 30,000 for 4th day amid downtrend

SEOUL, Oct. 16 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's new COVID-19 cases stayed below 30,000 for the fourth consecutive day Sunday as infections have been on a decline in recent weeks.

The country reported 21,469 new COVID-19 infections, including 87 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 25,120,465, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.

The country has seen a gradual downtrend in new infections after peaking at over 180,000 cases on Aug. 17.

In response to the downward trend, the government has eased antivirus restrictions, including lifting all outdoor mask mandates and the COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing requirement for inbound travelers.

The country reported 32 deaths from COVID-19, raising the death toll to 28,840. The number of critically ill patients came to 247, up two from a day earlier, the KDCA said.

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