South Korea reported almost 500 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, the highest in 35 days, amid continued outbreaks of infection clusters across the nation. 

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency(KDCA) said that 494 cases were detected throughout Thursday, raising the country's caseload to 100-thousand-770.

The daily cases increased by more than 60 from the previous day, remaining in the 400s for the third straight day. With signs of a resurgence, the government decided to extend current social distancing rules for another two weeks. 

Of the new cases, 471 were local infections while 23 were imported.

More than 70 percent of local cases came from the greater Seoul metro area, with 121 in the capital city, 187 in Gyeonggi Province and 28 in Incheon. Other parts of the nation added 135 cases. 

Seven more deaths have been reported, raising the death toll to one-thousand-716. The fatality rate stands at one-point-seven percent.

The number of critically ill patients is unchanged at 111.