South Korea's new COVID-19 cases dropped below 90,000 on Sunday, while the number of critically ill patients reached its highest level since late April.

The country added 85,295 new COVID-19 infections, including 363 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 22,983,818, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.

It marked a decline from 101,140 on Friday and 95,604 on Saturday. Daily cases fell as low as 59,028 on Monday but rebounded to above 100,000 throughout most of last week.

The country reported 70 COVID-19 deaths, bringing the death toll to 26,569, the KDCA said. The fatality rate stood at 0.12 percent.

The number of critically ill patients reached 581, its highest level since April 26. (Yonhap)