South Korea reported 11,666 new cases of the coronavirus Friday, as the country moves toward regaining pre-pandemic normalcy following the relaxation of most antivirus restrictions.

The daily infection number includes 15 imported cases, bringing the total caseload to 30,967,692, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said.

Friday's tally is up by 70 from the previous day and over 900 higher from a week ago. The daily average number of infections has remained around the 10,000 mark for the past two weeks, KDCA data showed.

The country added five COVID-19 deaths, raising the death toll to 34,366. The number of critically ill patients came to 127.

Health authorities have been closely monitoring infection trends after the government lifted most COVID-19 restrictions, including the mask mandate on public transportation. The mask mandate remains in place for medical facilities, pharmacies and other infection-prone places.

Additionally, the government plans to reduce the mandatory COVID-19 isolation period to five days from the current seven in May.

Meanwhile, South Korea has raised the country's alert level against the mpox virus from the current "attention" to "cautious" amid an increase in community transmissions. As of Friday, the country confirmed nine cases of mpox, formerly known as Monkeypox. (Yonhap)