Daily new COVID-19 cases remained over four-thousand for a fifth straight day amid the fast spread of the highly transmissible omicron variant.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said on Sunday that four-thousand-194 new cases were compiled throughout the previous day, raising the total caseload to 692-thousand-174.

The daily tally is 229 fewer than a day ago but 823 more than a week ago. The figure fell to the three-thousand range late last month as the government tightened social distancing measures and more people received booster shots, but the figure recently climbed over four-thousand amid the rapid spread of the omicron variant.

The number of critically ill patients, however, fell by 14 to 612, remaining in the 600s for the third consecutive day.

As of 5 p.m. Saturday, the ICU occupancy rate nationwide dropped by two percentage points to 31-point-eight percent.

Saturday saw 29 more deaths, raising the death toll to six-thousand-310. The fatality rate stands at zero-point-91 percent.

Of the latest figure, three-thousand-813 were local transmissions, while 381 cases were from overseas, marking the third largest figure.