S. Korea's new COVID-19 cases hit nearly 100,000

South Korea reported 99,327 new COVID-19 cases as of midnight Monday compared to 24 hours ago, bringing the total number of infections to 19,346,764, the health authorities said on Tuesday.

The daily caseload was sharply up from 35,883 in the prior day, far higher than 73,558 tallied a week ago, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). For the past week, the daily average number of confirmed cases was 69,337.

Among the newly reported infections, 353 were imported cases, lifting the total to 42,196. The latest number of infected people who were in a serious condition stood at 168, up by 24 from the previous day.

Seventeen more deaths were confirmed from the pandemic in the country, raising the COVID-19 related death toll to 24,907. The total fatality rate stands currently at 0.13 percent.
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