South Korea's daily COVID-19 cases fell to the 300 range for the first time in 54 days. 

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency(KDCA) said Monday that 389 new infections were detected throughout the previous day, raising the country's accumulated caseload to 72-thousand-729.

The daily figure dropped by 131 from the previous day and fell to the 300s for the first time since November 25 at the start of the third wave of the epidemic. 

The fall, however, is partly attributed to drops in the number of people getting tested over the weekend. 

Of the new cases, 366 were local transmissions, while 23 were imported.

More than 240 cases came from the capital region, with 128 in Seoul, 103 in Gyeonggi Province and 13 in Incheon. In other parts of the nation, the southern port city of Busan added nine cases, while Daegu reported 13 and Gwangju 11.

The number of critically ill patients is down by nine to 343 while 15 more coronavirus deaths have been reported, bringing the death toll to one-thousand-264. The average fatality rate stands at one-point-74 percent.