Seoul, Jan 9 (IANS): South Korea on Saturday reported 641 new coronavirus cases, raising the total infection tally to 67,999.

The daily caseload stayed below 700 for two straight days, but it hovered above 100 for 62 days since November 8, 2020 due to small cluster infections in Seoul and its surrounding Gyeonggi province as well as imported cases, Xinhua news agency reported.

The daily average number of confirmed cases for the past week was 777.3.

Of the new cases, 180 were Seoul residents and 195 were people residing in Gyeonggi province.

Forty-five were imported from overseas, lifting the combined figure to 5,692.

Nineteen more deaths were confirmed, leaving the death toll at 1,100. The total fatality rate stood at 1.62 per cent.

A total of 955 more patients were discharged from quarantine after making full recovery, pulling up the combined number to 49,324. The total recovery rate was 72.53 per cent.

The country has tested more than 4.68 million people, among whom 4,435,694 tested negative for the virus and 185,923 are being checked.