New COVID-19 cases more than halved from a week ago to fall below 15-thousand on Friday amid a slowdown in the latest wave of infections.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said that 14-thousand-961 infections were reported throughout Thursday, including 28 cases from overseas, bringing the country's cumulative caseload to nearly 30-million-229-thousand.

The daily figure is down by some two-thousand from the previous day and more than halved from a week ago after the Lunar New Year holiday. 

For a Friday tally, it is the lowest in 31 weeks since July 1 of last year.

The number of seriously or critically ill patients is down six from a day earlier at 339.

Thursday added 30 deaths, raising the death toll to 33-thousand-552 with the fatality rate unchanged at zero-point-11 percent.