South Korea's new daily coronavirus cases hit a three-month high Wednesday amid eased virus restrictions.

The country reported 23,521 cases, including 43 imported cases, bringing the total caseload to 31,331,112, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said.

Wednesday's tally marked a growth from the previous day's 21,681 and was more than 3,000 higher than the same day last week. It is also the highest tally since Jan. 28 when the daily caseload stood at 23,591, the KDCA data showed.

The country added 23 COVID-19 deaths Wednesday, raising the death toll to 34,571.

The number of critically ill patients came to 151, up from 142 a day earlier, the KDCA said.

In March, South Korea lifted the mask mandate for public transportation, with it only remaining for medical facilities, pharmacies and facilities vulnerable to infections.

The government plans to hold a COVID-19 response meeting Thursday to decided on lowering the national crisis level for the virus in line with the World Health Organization's recent announcement that COVID-19 is no longer a global health emergency. (Yonhap)