The daily COVID-19 increase in South Korea returned to triple digits on Sunday, a day after the nation introduced a revised social distancing system.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said Sunday that 143 new cases were detected throughout Saturday, raising the accumulated caseload to 27-thousand-427.

Of the new cases, 118 are local transmissions including 54 in Seoul and 23 in Gyeonggi Province. The daily new local cases rose by 46 from the previous day.

Health authorities remain on alert amid continued outbreaks of sporadic cluster infections from hospitals, nursing homes as well as family and business gatherings.

Of the 25 new imported cases, 14 were detected at quarantine checkpoints at airports or ports, while eleven others tested positive during self-isolation.

The number of severely or critically ill COVID-19 patients came to 58, up five from Saturday.

One more coronavirus death was reported, bringing the death toll to 478. The fatality rate stands at one-point-74 percent.