South Korea reported 615 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, surpassing the 600-mark for the second consecutive day.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency(KDCA) said the fresh cases raised the country's accumulated total to 38-thousand-161. 

Of the new cases detected through 11:59 p.m. Sunday, 580 were local transmissions and 35 were imported.

The increase in day-to-day cases bucked the trend of daily infection figures typically falling on weekends compared to weekdays due to the smaller number of people who get tested.

Of the 580 new cases detected throughout Sunday, 422 came from the greater metro area including 231 in Seoul, 154 in Gyeonggi Province and 37 in Incheon.

The southeastern city Ulsan also added 38 new infections and Busan reported 33.

Four more coronavirus deaths have been reported, raising the death toll to 549. The fatality rate stands at one-point-44 percent.

The number of severely or critically ill COVID-19 patients meanwhile rose by one to 126.