South Korea reports 1,132 more coronavirus cases, 55,902 in total

South Korea reported 1,132 more cases of COVID-19 as of midnight Friday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 55,902.

The daily caseload stayed above 1,000 for two straight days after posting a record high of 1,241 on the prior day.

The daily number of infections hovered above 100 for 49 days since November 8 due to small cluster infections in Seoul and its surrounding Gyeonggi province as well as imported cases.

Of the new cases, 457 were Seoul residents and 250 were people residing in Gyeonggi province.

Twenty-eight were imported from overseas, lifting the combined figure to 5,273.

Twenty more deaths were confirmed, leaving the death toll at 793. The total fatality rate stood at 1.42 per cent.

A total of 484 more patients were discharged from quarantine after making full recovery, pulling up the combined number to 38,532. The total recovery rate was 68.93 per cent.

Since January 3, the country has tested more than 3.96 million people, among whom 3,756,501 tested negative for the virus and 157,012 are being checked.