Daily new COVID-19 cases fell below four-thousand on Sunday, but the number of critical cases stayed over one-thousand for nearly two weeks.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said Sunday that three-thousand-833 new infections were reported throughout the previous day, raising the accumulated caseload to 639-thousand-83.

Of the new cases, three-thousand-683 were local transmissions while 150 were from overseas.

Amid tougher social distancing measures, the daily tally dropped by about 580 from a day ago and fell below four-thousand for the first time in five weeks for a Sunday.

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 25 to one-thousand-24. The figure remained above one-thousand for the 13th consecutive day.

Sixty-nine more people died of the virus, raising the accumulated death toll to five-thousand-694. The fatality rate stands at zero-point-89 percent.

The number of omicron infections jumped by 93 to a total of one-thousand-207.