Daily COVID-19 cases fell to the four-thousand range on Monday, but the number of critical cases remained above one-thousand for about a week.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said Monday four-thousand-207 new infections were reported throughout the previous day, raising the accumulated caseload to 611-thousand-670.

The daily tally dropped by over 12-hundred from a day ago and about eleven-hundred from a week ago.

Even taking into account fewer tests over the weekend, the spike in infections certainly appears to have slowed, thanks to special quarantine measures and tougher social distancing guidelines. 

However, the fall has yet to lead to a significant drop in critical patients and deaths. 

The number of patients in serious or critical condition marked one-thousand-78, staying above one-thousand for the seventh consecutive day. 

Fifty-five more people died of the virus, raising the accumulated death toll to 53-hundred. The fatality rate rose to zero-point-87 percent.

The number of omicron infections jumped by 69 to a total of 445.