South Korea reports over 90,000 new COVID-19 cases, lowest in 2 months

ANKARA (AA) - South Korea on Thursday reported over 90,000 new COVID-19 infections, the lowest in two months, amid a downward trend in cases of the highly transmissible omicron variant.

With 90,867 new cases, the East Asian nation's total caseload rose to over 16 million, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.

The infections have been on the decline after peaking at 621,178 cases on March 17.

During the past 24 hours, 147 more people lost their lives, bringing the total death toll from COVID-19 to 21,667.

So far, 44.53 million people, or 86.8% of the country's 52 million population, have been fully vaccinated, and 33 million people, or 64.4%, have received booster shots, according to the KDCA.

This week, the government started to administer second COVID-19 vaccine booster shots to people over 60, four months after their first booster dose.

"Vaccination can prevent deaths from COVID-19 and reduce risk thereof," Yonhap News Agency quoted Koh Jae-young, a spokesman at the KDCA, as saying during a press briefing.

"As we are trying to return to normal life, (health) risks facing the age group became even bigger, comparatively speaking," he added.

South Korea lifted most coronavirus restrictions except the mask mandate on Monday.

*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid