South Korea reported 743 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, staying in the 700s for the second day.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said Sunday that the new cases raised the country's accumulated caseload to 160-thousand-84.

The daily tally slightly decreased from the previous day due to fewer tests on weekends, but it marks the largest Saturday figure since December 27, when it posted 970.

Of the new cases detected throughout Saturday, 662 are local transmissions and 81 are from overseas.

The number of local infections stayed in the 700s for the fifth consecutive day.

By region, the greater metro area accounted for 81-point-seven percent of local infections, including 286 in Seoul and 227 in the surrounding Gyeonggi Province.

The number of imported cases marks the second largest tally since the nation reported its first coronavirus case on January 20 last year.

One more death has been reported, bringing the death toll to two-thousand-26. The fatality rate stands at one-point-27 percent.

The number of critically ill patients has dropped by one to 143.