SEOUL, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- The South Korean government on Thursday announced to lower the nation's alert level against the A/H1N1 flu from the highest "Red" to the second-highest "orange".

    The Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs said the pace of the new contagious disease infections have slowed in recent weeks.

    There has been a noticeable drop in the number of patients and deaths, a health official told media, attributing the slowing-down of the spread to nationwide vaccinations and the wide-scale use of antiviral drugs.

    Nevertheless, the government still called for continued efforts to contain the spread of the virus. President Lee Myung-bak said at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday that the number of new cases is dropping but that infections could surge if left unchecked.

    The new flu, which has caused a total of 117 death cases in the country, reached its peak at the end of October, when 24 people died during the period of Oct. 25-31.

    South Korea has been maintaining the red alert since Nov. 3 as there were an average 8,857 people confirmed as having infected the new flu.

Special Report:  World Tackles A/H1N1 Flu