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South Korea's daily coronavirus caseload neared 1,600 as testing picked up again after a lull over the weekend.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency on Tuesday confirmed 1,597 new cases in the last 24 hours, including 34 imported from abroad, raising the cumulative total to 263,374.

Three additional COVID-related fatalities pushed up the death toll to 2,330.

The KDCA said 66 percent of the latest locally transmitted cases were from the Seoul metropolitan area, where cluster infections have been steadily rising with people returning from their summer vacation and the reopening of schools.

Health authorities remain cautious as cases could spread across the nation during the Chuseok fall harvest holiday set for September 20-22.

Second Vice Health Minister Kang Do-tae urged people to continue to take precautions and follow antivirus curbs.

He said if people lower their guard and the virus resurges, "the goal of recovering back to normal can be threatened."

The government has indicated it plans to adopt a new strategy amid the pandemic that involves learning to live with COVID-19.

In the meantime, the country is encouraging everyone to get vaccinated to help contain the spread of the virus.

Due to a slower than expected vaccine rollout, less than 60 percent of the South Korean population had received one shot as of Monday, and less than 36 percent fully vaccinated.

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The Seoul city government is launching a campaign to encourage foreigners residing in the capital to get vaccinated against COVID-19 as soon as they become eligible.

Local officials said they are also promoting free, preemptive coronavirus testing in line with the increasing proportion of foreigners infected with the virus.

As of the end of August, foreigners accounted for 9.2 percent of all coronavirus cases recorded in Seoul since the start of the pandemic.

According to the city government, the vaccination rate among foreign nationals has been low due to language barriers and the complex registration process.

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Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum is urging unionized subway workers in Seoul not to go on strike next week, saying it will inconvenience people ahead of the Chuseok holiday.

The labor union of Seoul Metro, the operator of the subway system in the capital, warned it will go on strike on September 14 if the authorities' plan to lay off workers as part of restructuring measures is not withdrawn.

Kim said the pandemic is already making life difficult for many people and called on the union to cancel their protest.

The prime minister also mentioned the Afghan evacuees who arrived in the country at the end of last month, saying he hopes they will settle in well.

He called on government ministries and agencies to work together to support the evacuees with housing, jobs and education.

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The United States says it has successfully evacuated four of its citizens over land from Afghanistan in the first such operation since the American airlift ended.

The BBC's Gary O'Donoghue reports from Washington.

[Reporter]
We know that there are four individuals who traveled over land.

That was facilitated by the State Department.

They say the Taliban were aware of that and didn't impede their progress.

But we do know that they were met by American embassy officials in whichever country they arrived in.

So, it won't be Iran because they don't have an embassy in Iran.

There is a Republican member of Congress here that's saying he was part of a facilitation exercise to get a family out -- a mother and three children.

The State Department hasn't confirmed whether that's the same four people they're talking about. ■