A COVID-19 testing site at the Seoul Station, Thursday. Yonhap

New COVID-19 cases fell for a fourth consecutive day to stay below 30,000, Friday, as the government kept tight vigilance, postponing a plan to relax more antivirus curbs.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reported 23,462 infections, including 11 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 17,938,399.

The daily counts have continued to fall from 31,352, Tuesday, to 28,130, Wednesday, and 25,125, Thursday. The highly transmissible Omicron wave peaked in mid-March with the daily count hitting over 620,000.

The KDCA recorded 26 deaths Saturday, putting the total at 23,911, for a fatality rate stood at 0.13 percent; while the number of critically ill patients came to 235, down from the previous day's 251.