South Korea's daily COVID-19 count surpassed 600 again on Sunday amid a third wave of the epidemic.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said that 631 additional people tested positive for the virus as of 12:00 a.m. Sunday, raising the country's accumulated total to 37-thousand-546.
The daily figure briefly fell below 600 on Saturday but climbed back above the mark on Sunday, marking the largest since the third wave started in November. The figure remains above 100 for the 29th consecutive day since November 8.
Of the new cases detected throughout Saturday, 599 were local transmissions and 32 were imported.
Four hundred seventy domestic cases came from the greater metro area including 253 in Seoul, 176 in Gyeonggi Province and 41 in Incheon.
The southern port city Busan also added 34 new infections and South Gyeongsang Province reported 15.
Five more coronavirus deaths have been reported, raising the death toll to 545. The fatality rate stands at one-point-45 percent.
The number of critically ill COVID-19 patients has risen by four to 125.