Seoul, Jan 11 (IANS): South Korea reported 451 new coronavirus cases on Monday, raising the total number of infections to 69,114.

The daily caseload fell below 500 in 41 days since December 1, 2020, but it hovered above 100 for 64 days since November 8, 2020, owing 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 693.

Of the new cases, 137 were Seoul residents and 142 were people residing in Gyeonggi province.

Thirty-two were imported from overseas, lifting the combined figure to 5,759.

Fifteen more deaths were confirmed, leaving the death toll at 1,140.

The total fatality rate stood at 1.65 per cent.

A total of 2,143 more patients were discharged from quarantine after making full recovery, pulling up the combined number to 52,552.

The total recovery rate was 76.04 per cent.

The country tested more than 4.75 million people, among whom 4,492,808 tested negative for the virus and 189,763 are being checked.