Seoul, Jan 10 (IANS): South Korea on Sunday reported 665 more cases of the novel coronavirus, raising the total number of infections to 68,664.

The daily caseload stayed below 700 for three straight days, but it hovered above 100 for 63 days since November 8 due to small cluster infections in Seoul and its surrounding Gyeonggi province, as well as imported cases, reports Xinhua news agency.

The daily average number of confirmed cases for the past week was 774.

Of the new cases, 179 were Seoul residents and 189 were people residing in Gyeonggi province.

Thirty-four were imported from overseas, lifting the combined figure to 5,727.

Twenty-five more deaths were confirmed, leaving the death toll at 1,125. The total fatality rate stood at 1.64 per cent.

A total of 1,085 more patients were discharged from quarantine after making full recovery, pulling up the combined number to 50,409.

The total recovery rate was 73.41 per cent.

The country tested more than 4.72 million people, among whom 4,463,346 tested negative for the virus and 191,454 are being checked.