South Korea's daily COVID-19 cases fell below 170,000 Friday but critical cases and deaths from the virus rose at a fast pace amid the continued spread of the highly contagious omicron variant.

The country reported 165,890 new COVID-19 infections, including 165,749 local cases, raising the total caseload to 2,665,077, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

It is slightly down from the previous day's 170,015. Daily infections surpassed the 100,000 level for the first time last week and soared to a record high of 171,442 on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said that the daily caseload could rise to as high as 250,000 by mid-March when the omicron wave is forecast to reach the peak.

The number of critically ill COVID-19 patients grew sharply to 655 Friday from the previous day's 581. Compared with a week earlier, the figure surged about 70 percent.

The country added 94 more deaths from COVID-19 in the day, more than doubling in a week. The death toll came to 7,783, and the fatality rate was 0.29 percent, according to the KDCA.

The government has said it will continue to focus on dealing with serious cases and preventing deaths to effectively handle the omicron wave under the current medical system, citing milder severity of the variant.

Instead of rigorous contact tracing and treatment, the government opted for an enhanced at-home treatment and self-diagnosis scheme.

It also decided to further ease rules on mandatory isolation for unvaccinated people to reduce the administrative burden for health authorities.

Currently, a seven-day isolation is a must for those who are not vaccinated and live with virus patients. But self-monitoring will be allowed starting next month regardless of their vaccination record, according to the prime minister.

As of Friday, 31.0 million people, or 60.4 percent of the country's 52 million population, had received booster shots. The number of fully vaccinated people came to 44.33 million, accounting for 86.4 percent, according to the KDCA.

The government has called on the people to get vaccinated, as a booster shot reduces chances of developing serious cases, as well as deaths from COVID-19, by more than 80 percent under the current wave. (Yonhap)