South Korea reported 715 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday after briefly climbing above the one-thousand mark the previous day.   

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency(KDCA) said Tuesday that the new infections raised the country's accumulated caseload to 64-thousand-979.  

Of the new cases, 672 were local transmissions, while 43 were imported.

By region, Seoul added 193 new infections, while the surrounding Gyeonggi Province recorded 214 and Incheon added 48. In other parts of the nation, North Chungcheong Province recorded 32 new cases, Daegu 31 and Gwangju 23. 

The daily figure plunged more than 300 from the previous day, but health authorities are on high alert amid spikes in the number of critically ill patients and virus-related deaths.  

The country's death toll surpassed the thousand mark and reached one-thousand-seven with 26 additional deaths. 

The number of critically ill COVID-19 patients also jumped by 35 to 386.