Seoul, Sep 9 (Xinhua) South Korea reported 156 more cases of the COVID-19 as of 0:00 a.m. Wednesday local time compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 21,588. The daily caseload stayed below 200 for the past week, but it continued to grow in triple digits since Aug. 14.
It was attributed to cluster infections in Seoul and its surrounding Gyeonggi province linked to church services and a massive rally held in central Seoul on Aug. 15.
Of the new cases, 48 were Seoul residents and 51 were people residing in Gyeonggi province.
Twelve were imported, lifting the combined figure to 2,933.
Three more deaths were confirmed, leaving the death toll at 344. The total fatality rate stood at 1.59 percent.
A total of 387 more patients were discharged from quarantine after making full recovery, pulling up the combined number to 17,023. The total recovery rate was 78.86 percent.
Since Jan. 3, the country has tested more than 2.08 million people, among whom 2,024,113 tested negative for the virus and 36,533 are being checked.
