Seoul reports new record high of 2,901 daily COVID-19 cases

Seoul's daily coronavirus cases reached a record high of 2,901 on Wednesday as the country's total surpassed 7,000 for the first time since the pandemic began, officials said Wednesday.

Seoul's total was up 781 from the previous day and up 628 from the previous high of 2,273 logged Friday, according to the Central Disease Control Headquarters. Of the total, 2,890 were local infections and 11 were from overseas.

Seoul saw its daily virus figure exceed 2,000 every day except for Sunday in the past eight days.

The number of daily coronavirus cases in Seoul topped 1,000 for the first time on Sept. 24, when 1,221 new patients were confirmed.

After staying below the mark for some time, the number again soared to 1,004 on Nov. 2.

Since then, the capital's daily records have been broken eight times -- 1,436 on Nov. 16; 1,734 on Nov. 23; 1,760 on Nov. 24; 1,888 on Nov. 26; 2,222 on Nov. 30; 2,268 on Dec. 1; 2,273 on Friday and 2,901 on Tuesday.

The city's total caseload has risen to 171,606, and its total number of COVID-19 deaths had increased by 24 to 1,263, as of Tuesday midnight.

South Korea added an all-time high of 7,175 new daily COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, raising the total caseload to 489,484, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. (Yonhap)