Reflecting the continuous decline of new Covid-19 cases, health authorities on Wednesday set the pandemic's risk at a "low level" nationwide, the second-lowest of their five-tier rating system.

It was the second time the entire nation entered the low-risk level since the government introduced the weekly rating system in November.

Last week's new virus cases stood at 234,764, a 38.4 percent decrease from the previous week. In addition, R0, or an estimated reproductive rate of how many people may contract the virus from one infected person, was 0.8, remaining below 1 for five consecutive weeks. The index shows the number of people a patient can transmit the virus on average.

Although the overall risk of Covid-19 has fallen, health officials expressed concerns about the reinfection of citizens who have tested positive for the virus.

In the second week of September (Sept. 11-17), the estimated rate of reinfection among confirmed cases was 10.29 percent, a slight increase from the previous week (10.17 percent).

Health officials estimated that this is because immunity from infection and the efficacy of vaccination are declining over time.

On Wednesday, Korea added 36,159 new Covid-19 infections, including 379 cases from abroad, bringing the total caseload to 24,709,789, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

Wednesday's figure was the lowest figure for any Wednesday since July 12.

The nation also reported 46 more Covid-19 deaths, raising the death toll to 28,318. The fatality rate stood at 0.11 percent. The number of critically ill patients came to 375, down 26 from the previous day, the KDCA said.

As the virus wave has subsided, the government decided to reduce the number of hospital beds reserved for Covid-19 patients in phases.

Korea currently has some 7,400 beds set aside for Covid-19 patients, with about 20 percent occupied. Of the total, the government will transition 1,477 beds to treat other general patients by Oct. 7, the KDCA said.

"Even in August, when the viral wave was at its peak, we were able to stably manage the bed utilization rate at 50 percent," Second Vice Minister of Health and Welfare Lee Ki-il said during a press briefing on Wednesday. "Now that the epidemic is stabilizing, we have enough hospital beds for Covid-19 patients."

According to the KDCA, about 44.67 million among 52 million Koreans have been fully vaccinated. In addition, about 33.59 million people had received their first booster shots, and 7.42 million had their second booster shots.