emirates7 - South Korea's new coronavirus cases reached a 66-day high at over 41,000 on Saturday amid the spread of a highly contagious new omicron subvariant, Yonhap News Agency reported.

The country reported 41,310 new COVID-19 infections, including 287 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 18,721,415, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.

The KDCA reported 16 deaths from the virus Saturday, putting the death toll at 24,728. The fatality rate stood at 0.13 percent.