Health authorities have placed the COVID-19 risk level for the first week of January at "medium" for the capital region and the whole country and for non-capital areas at "low".

The nationwide level has been downgraded after being at "very high" for seven straight weeks. The capital region was assessed at the highest level for eight weeks.

The ICU bed occupancy rate fell to the 50 percent range across the country as well as in Seoul and surrounding areas as more beds were secured and critical cases have declined.

Authorities point out that, though pandemic indicators are improving thanks to social distancing, challenges still remain due to the omicron variant. 

They say swift changes are necessary to quarantine and medical response strategies as the percentage of omicron cases is rapidly rising.