Health authorities reported over 33-hundred new COVID-19 cases on Monday, amid growing concerns about the new variant Omicron.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said that three-thousand-309 new infections were confirmed throughout Sunday, raising the country's accumulated caseload to 444-thousand-200.

The daily tally dropped by over 600 from the previous day due to fewer tests over the weekend, but marks the largest for Monday. 

The number of critically ill patients fell by 18 from a day ago to 629, but remained above 600 for the fifth straight day.

The overall death toll increased to three-thousand-580, with 32 new deaths. The fatality rate stands at zero-point-81 percent, showing a steady rise from zero-point-78 percent tallied on November 1 when the nation began its transition to normalcy. 

As of Sunday, more than 75 percent of hospital beds for severe COVID-19 patients nationwide were occupied. 

Of the new cases, three-thousand-286 were local transmissions and 23 were from overseas.

The capital region accounted for 76-point-eight percent of local infections, reporting two-thousand-524 cases. Non-capital areas added 762 infections.

Amid the continued rise in critical patients and deaths, President Moon Jae-in will hold a special COVID-19 quarantine meeting on Monday to assess the virus situation and response measures.