President Moon Jae-in said Sunday that further infections linked to entertainment facilities in Seoul's nightlife neighborhood seem to be controlled thanks to swift virus testing and contact-tracing efforts.

After successfully containing COVID-19 cases for weeks, the country reported a spike in new daily virus cases, most of which are linked to nightclubs and bars in Itaewon.

South Korea added 13 new cases of the new coronavirus on Sunday, with nightclub-linked infections showing signs of a slowdown over the weekend.

It marked the fewest daily cases since Itaewon, a multicultural nightlife district in Seoul, emerged as a hotbed for coronavirus cluster infections.

The country added 19 new cases a day earlier. The number of cases linked to the cluster infections came to 168 as of noon, according to health authorities.

"Daily new cases came back down to the 10s, and of them, the daily number of domestic infections dropped to a single-digit level for the second day," Moon said in his Facebook message.

On the back of quick testing and contact-tracing measures, the possibility of further virus infections has been sharply lowered, the president said.

The country's "excellent" quarantine system is once again playing a role, the president said, expressing thanks for the public's cooperation with the government's quarantine efforts.

"Faithful compliance to the principles of 'wearing masks and keeping distance' is working as a safety valve in preventing further outbreaks," he said. (Yonhap)