Daily COVID-19 infections in South Korea have surpassed 200 for the first time in 73 days.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said Saturday that 205 new cases were detected throughout Friday, the highest since 267 in early September.

Of the new cases, 166 are local transmissions including 63 in Seoul, 46 in Gyeonggi Province and 18 in Gangwon Province.

Of the 39 new imported cases, 21 were detected upon arrival and the other 18 were confirmed during self-isolation. Nineteen of the 39 are South Koreans and 20 are foreign nationals. The countries they flew in from include the United States, Russia, Poland, Myanmar and the Philippines.

The country's cumulative caseload has reached 28-thousand-338.

Ninety-nine more patients have fully recovered and been released from quarantine, bringing that total to 25-thousand-636.

Over 22-hundred patients are being still being treated, 54 of whom are critically ill. 

Four more coronavirus deaths have been reported, raising the death toll to 492. The fatality rate stands at one-point-74 percent.