Health authorities reported more than five-thousand new COVID-19 cases for the second straight day, with the number of critical cases staying over one-thousand for ten days.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency(KDCA) said Thursday that five-thousand-37 new infections were reported throughout the previous day, raising the accumulated caseload to 625-thousand-967. 

Of the new cases, four-thousand-930 were local transmissions while 107 were from overseas. 

The daily tally dropped by about 370 from a day ago and over 18-hundred from a week ago. However, the drop has yet to lead to a significant fall in critical patients and deaths. 

The number of patients in serious or critical condition dropped by six to one-thousand-145, the second largest tally to date. 

Deaths from the virus bounced back to 73 from 36 the previous day, raising the accumulated death toll to five-thousand-455. The fatality rate stands at zero-point-87 percent. 

The number of omicron infections jumped by 67 to a total of 625.