As the Omicron wave has notably slowed down, the quarantine authorities have downgraded the national Covid-19 risk from high to medium level for the first time in 14 weeks.

The assessment divides the risk of Covid-19 infection into five levels -- very low, low, medium, high, and very high – by evaluating 18 indicators, including the intensive care unit bed utilization rate, the number of weekly critically ill patients, and the rate of confirmed cases over 60 years old.

According to the Central Disease Control Headquarters (CDCH), new Covid-19 cases have decreased for five consecutive weeks since the third week of March.

The risk in the Seoul metro region also fell to medium for the first time in 14 weeks since the second week of January. The greater Seoul area maintained a very high-risk level throughout last month. However, the headquarters said the government downgraded the level to high in the first week of April after the Omicron epidemic peaked.

However, they maintained the risk level in the rest of the country high.

Last week, the number of confirmed cases stood at 617,852, with an average of 88,265 confirmed cases per day, down 40.8 percent from the previous week.

Although the daily average number of confirmed cases decreased for all age groups, the proportion of confirmed cases aged 60 and over, considered the most vulnerable to infection, increased to 22.4 percent of the total cases.

The number of new deaths for the week was 1,135, down 36.8 percent from the previous week, with 93.7 percent of fatalities coming from those 60s or older, and the number of new severe cases also dropped to 634, a decrease of 24.5 percent from the previous week.

The infection reproduction index remained below 1 for four weeks at 0.70. The reproduction index shows the number of people a patient can transmit the virus on average. If the index rises above 1, it is difficult for epidemiological investigations or quarantine responses to keep up with the spread of the virus.

On Tuesday, the daily tally jumped to over 80,000, however.

The KDCA confirmed 80,361 new virus cases, raising the cumulative caseload to 17,009,865.

Despite a spike in daily cases, daily fatalities dropped to double digits for the first time in 55 days, with authorities confirming 82 deaths, raising the total death toll to 22,325.

The number of critically ill patients came to 613, down 55 from a day earlier.

The quarantine authorities urged people to follow personal quarantine rules to prevent the risk of the spread of Covid-19.

The announcement follows the government lifting most of the country's virus restrictions amid the slowdown of the Omicron wave and downgrading the Covid-19 virus to the second-highest level of the four-tier infectious disease control system.

"When having a meeting, please minimize the time to gather in a closed, dense, and close environment with a high risk of infection, and secure sufficient space when gathering indoors," said Lee Sang-won, head of the government's epidemiological investigation and analysis team. "When eating in indoor public facilities, take off the mask as short as possible, and refrain from talking with the mask off."

Other personal quarantine included completing vaccination, washing hands with soap for 30 seconds, coughing on sleeves, ventilating at least three times a day, receiving medical treatment, staying at home, and minimizing contact with others when infected.

As of Tuesday, 33.08 million people have received booster shots or 64.5 percent of the country's population. The number of fully vaccinated people also came to 44.54 million, representing 86.8 percent of Koreans, the KDCA said.

The government estimated 55,906 reinfection cases in Korea, including 65 cases where a person was infected three times.

Re-infected people increased by 29,667 from March 19 (26,239).

"Compared to the situation abroad, the estimated incidence of reinfection in Korea is low," the headquarters said. "However, due to the increase in the number of confirmed cases after the Omicron epidemic, the number of estimated cases of reinfection is also increasing."