South Korean health authorities have reported the lowest number of daily new coronavirus infections in 50 days.

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) in Seoul on Friday said 27 new cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new virus, were confirmed, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 10,450.

For the first time since February 20, the number of new infections dropped below 30. For a second straight day the increase was under 40.

The city of Daegu, which has been the outbreak epicentre in the country so far with 6807 cases, registered zero new infections for the first time, according to news agency Yonhap.

Four more deaths linked to the disease were also recorded, bringing the national death toll to 208, according to KCDC data.

A clear downward trend has been apparent over the past month, after a peak was recorded at the end of February, with more than 900 new infections recorded within 24 hours.

Many countries are now looking to South Korea as a model for containing the virus, which Seoul has achieved through rigorous testing.

Now other countries are hoping to benefit from Korea’s testing capacity, as it ramps up exports of COVID-19 testing kits

-with agencies