Daily COVID-19 cases have bounced back to the five-thousand range amid the rapid spread of the highly transmissible omicron variant. 

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency(KDCA) said on Wednesday that five-thousand-805 cases were compiled throughout the previous day, bringing the total caseload to 705-thousand-902. 

While the daily tally grew by over 17-hundred from Tuesday mainly due to fewer tests over the weekend, it is also more than one-thousand-400 higher than a week ago and over 13-hundred more than two weeks ago. 

It is the first time in 20 days that the tally exceeded five-thousand since five-thousand-34 cases were reported on December 30. 

The new rise in cases comes as health authorities expect omicron will be the dominant strain in the nation by the end of this week. 

The number of critical COVID-19 cases continues to decline, hitting 532. However, the death toll climbed by 74 to six-thousand-452. The fatality rate remains unchanged at zero-point-91 percent.  

A total of five-thousand-431 cases were domestic infections while the remaining 374 were overseas transmissions.