New COVID-19 cases registered in the six-thousand range as the daily tally remains under ten-thousand for a ninth straight day.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said Saturday that six-thousand-842 infections were reported throughout Friday, including 79 from overseas.

The figure is down by some 15-hundred from last Saturday.

Of the new cases, those 60 and older who are considered at high risk account for 17 percent and those 18 and younger, nearly 19 percent.

The country's accumulated caseload now stands at 18-million-270-thousand-481.

The number of serious or critically ill patients receiving care at the hospital is down by eleven from the previous day, at 71.

Friday saw eleven deaths, raising the death toll to 24-thousand-427. The overall fatality rate stands at zero-point-13 percent.

Over 65-hundred hospital beds are set aside for COVID-19 and just over seven percent of ICU beds are currently in use. Treatment centers handling patients with mild symptoms have an occupancy rate of three-point-four percent.

On the vaccination front, eight-point-four percent of the population, or 30-point-four percent of those 60 and older, have received a fourth shot.