Seoul, Dec 26 (IANS): South Korea's new Covid-19 cases fell below 30,000 on Monday due to fewer tests during the Christmas weekend.

The country confirmed 25,545 new coronavirus infections, including 67 from overseas, bringing the total to 28,684,600, Yonhap news agency reported, citing the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

The tally on Monday, which tends to be lower due to fewer tests over the weekend, is down by around 1,000 from a week ago. It is also slightly lower than the 25,657 reported two weeks ago.

The KDCA reported 42 more Covid-19 deaths, bringing the death toll to 31,832. The number of critically ill patients stood at 583, down nine from the previous day.

Last week, health authorities announced plans to remove the indoor mask mandate in phases and a set of criteria that need to be satisfied to implement the mask-free policy, including a stable number of new infections and a downtrend in critically ill cases and deaths.

While the health authorities predicted the new policy could be implemented around late January, it still recommended mask wearing indoors as a precautionary measure.