Seoul, Dec 27 (IANS): South Korea on Sunday reported 970 more cases of the novel coronavirus, raising the total number of infections to 56,872.

The daily caseload fell below 1,000 in three days due to fewer tests over the weekend, reports Xinhua news agency.

The daily number of infections hovered above 100 for 50 days since November 8 due to small cluster infections in Seoul and its surrounding Gyeonggi province as well as imported cases.

Of the new cases, 359 were Seoul residents and 237 were people residing in Gyeonggi province.

Twenty-four were imported from overseas, lifting the combined figure to 5,297.

Fifteen more deaths were confirmed, leaving the death toll at 808.

The total fatality rate stood at 1.42 per cent.

A total of 508 more patients were discharged from quarantine after making full recovery, pulling up the combined number to 39,040.

The total recovery rate was 68.65 per cent.

Since January 3, the country has tested more than 4.00 million people, among whom 3,782,564 tested negative for the virus and 166,976 are being checked.