SEOUL, May 7 (Xinhua) -- South Korea reported 39,600 new COVID-19 cases as of midnight Friday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 17,504,334, the health authorities said Saturday.
The daily caseload was up from 26,714 in the previous day, but it was lower than 43,286 recorded a week earlier, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).
The health authorities believed that the daily caseload has been on the decline following the Omicron variant-driven resurgence, which have peaked in the middle of March.
Among the new cases, 26 were imported, lifting the total to 32,147.
The number of infected people who were in a serious condition stood at 419, down four from the previous day.
A total of 83 more deaths were confirmed, leaving the death toll at 23,289. The total fatality rate was 0.13 percent.
The number of people who received two doses of COVID-19 vaccines was 44,554,725, or 86.8 percent of the total population, and the figure for those getting booster jabs was 33,172,995 or 64.6 percent of the population. ■