SEOUL, May 12 (Xinhua) -- South Korea reported 35,906 new COVID-19 cases as of midnight Wednesday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 17,694,677, the health authorities said Thursday.
The daily caseload was down from 43,925 in the previous day, hovering below 50,000 for the ninth consecutive day, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.
The health authorities believed that the daily caseload has been on the decline following the Omicron variant-driven resurgence, which may have peaked in the middle of March.
Among the new cases, 12 were imported from overseas, lifting the total to 32,251.
The number of infected people who were in a serious condition stood at 354, down 29 from the previous day.
A total of 63 more deaths were confirmed, leaving the death toll at 23,554. The total fatality rate was 0.13 percent.
The number of people who received two doses of COVID-19 vaccines was 44,558,791, or 86.8 percent of the total population, and the figure for those getting booster jabs was 33,203,948 people, or 64.7 percent of the population. ■