New daily COVID-19 cases came in at around 56-thousand on Friday as imported cases hit the highest in three months.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency(KDCA) said on Friday that 56-thousand-954 infections were reported throughout Thursday, bringing the country's cumulative caseload to some 29 million-420-thousand.

The number of imported cases rose by 64 from a day earlier to 258, a seven-fold increase from Monday. 

Positive cases from overseas surpassed 200 for the first time in about three months since October 2 of last year, right after entry restrictions were lifted. The number of cases from China stood at 208 to account for about 80 percent of the daily imported total.

The daily tally is down about seven-thousand from the previous day and some eight-thousand from a week ago, indicating a slowdown in the growth pace. 

The number of seriously or critically ill patients dropped by 23 from the previous day to 548, staying above 500 for about three weeks.

Thursday added 75 deaths, raising the cumulative toll to 32-thousand-496. The fatality rate stands at zero-point-11 percent.