The government says the COVID-19 infection trend now seems to be on a decline.

Senior health ministry official Son Young-rae said Tuesday that last week's tallies showed a decrease in infections, assessing that the continued spread that battered the country has now shifted to a downward trend. 

Average daily infections declined for the first time in nine weeks last week, dropping to roughly six-thousand-100 from six-thousand-855 the week before. 

The number of new daily infections also fell to the three-thousand range for the first time in about a month this Tuesday.

On severe cases, Son said that the number of critically ill patients and deaths are also projected to decline going forward, but estimated the drop to be reflected around five to ten days from now.

The government analyzed that infections fell as booster shot administrations picked up steam and as tightened distancing rules began to take effect.