The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency(KDCA) has confirmed 398 new COVID-19 cases in the 24 hours to 12 a.m. Friday, raising the country's accumulated total to 91-thousand-638. 

Of the new cases, 381 were local infections while 17 were imported.  

About 81 percent of the local cases came from the greater metro area, with 129 in Seoul, 168 in Gyeonggi Province and 12 in Incheon.

Daily infections have hovered in the 300s and 400s since February 20 as the third wave of the epidemic continues.

Meanwhile, the number of virus-related deaths rose by eight to one-thousand-627 as the fatality rate stood at one-point-78 percent.