Daily COVID-19 cases remained above six-thousand for the second straight day amid the rapid spread of the highly transmissible omicron variant. 

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency(KDCA) said on Friday that six-thousand-769 cases were compiled throughout the previous day, raising the total caseload to 719-thousand-269.

The daily tally rose by over two-thousand from a week ago and over three-thousand from two weeks ago. The figure is expected to climb to seven- to eight-thousand next week. 

The number of critical COVID-19 cases, however, continued to fall, dropping by 57 to 431. 

As of 5 p.m. Thursday, the ICU occupancy rate nationwide stood at 21-point-nine percent, down one-point-five percentage points from a day ago.  

Thursday saw 21 deaths, raising the overall death toll to six-thousand-501. The fatality rate fell to zero-point-nine percent.   

Of the new cases, six-thousand-482 cases were local transmissions, while 287 were from overseas.