South Korea’s daily average of new COVID-19 cases fell last week for the first time in more than two months, but severe cases and deaths are likely to continue to rise in the omicron-driven outbreak, South Korean officials said on Monday.

South Korea reported an average of about 350,000 new cases last week, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Monday. KDCA Commissioner Jeong Eun-kyeong said it was the first drop in the weekly average in 11 weeks.

Citing expert research, Jeong said the current outbreak may have peaked and is expected to trend downward. But she said new cases in South Korea are likely to slowly decline due to lax social distancing rules, the expansion of in-person school classes and rising infection rates due to a mutant of the coronavirus widely known as the “invisible omicron.”

The number of virus patients and deaths currently in severe or critical conditions is also expected to continue to rise, Jeong said. Those numbers typically lag the evolution of case numbers by about two weeks, experts say.

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Health Minister Kwon De-chul said separately that the omicron-led outbreak has peaked, but a more thorough analysis is needed to confirm whether the outbreak has turned to a downward trend.

On Monday, South Korea reported 187,213 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, the first time in 25 days that daily cases fell below 200,000. The number of severe or critically ill patients reached 1,273, a record high.

Highly contagious variant of omicron forces South Korea to abandon strict COVID-19 response based on mass laboratory testing, aggressive contact tracing and isolation, focusing limited medical resources on priority groups, including those 60 and older and people with pre-existing medical conditions.

Health officials recently significantly eased quarantine restrictions and border controls, and stopped requiring adults to show proof of vaccinations or negative tests when entering potentially crowded venues, such as restaurants, so that more public and health workers can cope with rapidly expanding households treat.