The daily COVID-19 count has surpassed 600 for the first time in nine months. 

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency(KDCA) said that 629 additional people tested positive for the virus as of 12:00 a.m. Friday, raising the country's accumulated total to 36-thousand-332.

Of the new cases, 600 were local transmissions and 29 were imported. Thursday also marked the first time for local infections to hit 600 since early March. 

The greater Seoul metro area accounted for 77 percent of all domestic cases, including 291 in Seoul, 155 in Gyeonggi Province and 17 in Incheon. 

A large number of local cases are linked to a club at a university in Seoul where a total of 18 infections have been confirmed and a hospital in Seoul’s Dongdaemun District where 23 cases have been confirmed so far. 

Seven more coronavirus deaths were reported, raising the death toll to 536. The fatality rate stands at one-point-48 percent.

Infectious disease experts say that to curb the latest surge in infections, the government must further raise its social distancing level.