South Korea reported 562 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday as the country's virus spread appears to be slowing down.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency(KDCA) said Wednesday that the new cases raised the country's accumulated caseload to 70-thousand-212. 

The country's total caseload surpassed 70-thousand almost a year after it reported its first patient on January 20 last year. 

The daily figure increased by 25 from the previous day but remained in the 500 range for the second straight day.  

Of the new cases detected throughout Tuesday, 536 were local transmissions and 26 were imported. 

By region, almost 360 cases come from the greater metro area with 148 in Seoul, 189 in Gyeonggi Province and 20 in Incheon. In other parts of the nation, South Gyeongsang Province recorded 42 new cases, Busan 35 and North Gyeongsang Province 23. 

Twenty more deaths were reported, raising the country's death toll to one-thousand-185. The fatality rate stands at one-point-69 percent.  

The number of critically ill patients dropped by 16 to 374.