New COVID-19 cases fell below 20-thousand on Thursday amid a slowdown in the latest wave of infections.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency(KDCA) said that 16-thousand-862 infections were reported throughout Wednesday, including 45 cases from overseas, bringing the country's cumulative caseload to about 30-million-213-thousand.

The daily figure is down by some 35-hundred from the previous day and halved from a week ago immediately after the Lunar New Year holiday. Compared to two weeks ago, the figure has dropped by about 13-thousand.

For a Thursday tally, it is the lowest in 31 weeks since June 30 last year.

The number of seriously or critically ill patients is down 14 from a day earlier at 345.

Wednesday added 36 deaths, raising the death toll to 33-thousand-522 with the fatality rate unchanged at zero-point-11 percent.