The number of daily COVID-19 cases in South Korea continue to climb, with Friday marking the fifth straight day the daily tally has been in the 400s.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said Saturday 490 new infections were reported Friday that include 474 local transmissions and 16 imported cases.

By region, 330 or some 67 percent come from the greater metro area, including 164 in Gyeonggi Province and 140 in Seoul.

South Gyeongsang Province also added 62 new cases due to a cluster outbreak at a public bathhouse.

The country's accumulated caseload has surpassed 95-thousand. Five more deaths were reported Friday raising the death toll to one-thousand-667. 

In a COVID-19 response meeting Saturday, Interior and Safety Minister Jeon Hae-cheol called for onsite quarantine inspections at public facilities and nursing homes and preemptive virus testing at workplaces that hire a large number of workers.

He also asked the public to more strictly abide by safety guidelines in daily life to prevent the spread of infection.