Korea reports 794 additional COVID-19 cases

The health authorities confirmed 794 new COVID-19 infections for Friday, amid worries about a potential fourth wave of large-scale infections nationwide.

The number is down from 826 recorded Thursday, but marked the second consecutive day that the country's daily new coronavirus cases have stayed at around 800.

Among the additional infections, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reported 748 locally transmitted ones and 46 imported, as the total caseload came to 159,342, with one more death, raising the toll to 2,025 at a mortality rate of 1.27 percent.

By region, 353 cases were found in Seoul, 247 in the surrounding Gyeonggi Province and 14 in Incheon, accounting for 82.1 percent of the new daily infections.

The number of new cases in the greater Seoul area has now remained above 600 for four straight days amid infection clusters and the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant.

The KDCA said 813 patients were released from coronavirus treatment Friday, with 8,185 others still in quarantine. The number of those with serious symptoms decreased by one to 144.

It noted that 3,930 more people received their first doses of a vaccine the same day, and 83,700 others had their second shots, adding 5.27 million people, or 10.3 percent of the population, have been fully vaccinated.

Friday's infection number is the largest here in nearly six months. (Yonhap)