The daily COVID-19 increase has climbed to its highest in 42 days amid an expansion of clusters linked to nursing homes and other medical facilities.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency(KDCA) said as of 12:00 a.m. Friday, 155 additional people tested positive for the virus, raising the country's accumulated total to 25-thousand-698.

With the latest figure, the nation saw daily infections post triple digits for the second straight day. 

Of the new cases, 138 were local infections while 17 were imported.

Of the local cases, 121 came from the Seoul metropolitan area, including 19 in Seoul and 98 in Gyeonggi Province. Incheon added four patients.

In particular, the number of cases in connection to a rehabilitation center in the Gyeonggi provincial city of Gwangju surged to 106 as of noon Thursday.

Meanwhile, the number of virus-related deaths rose by two to 455.