South Korea's new COVID-19 cases hit around 21,000 on Tuesday in a steady decline from the previous week, as the country is returning to pre-pandemic normalcy with almost all virus restrictions gone.

The country reported 21,385 new infection cases, including 43 imported cases, bringing the total caseload to 31,569,468, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said.

Tuesday's count is a drop from 23,671 a week earlier and 21,674 reported the week before, marking a moderate fall in the daily infection numbers.

The country reported 15 COVID-19 deaths, raising the death toll to 34,702.

The number of critically ill patients came to 164, up by five from Monday, the KDCA said.

The country is set to downgrade the national crisis level for COVID-19 to "alert" from "serious" in June, following the World Health Organization's declaration on the end of the COVID-19 global health emergency earlier this month. (Yonhap)