South Korea is set to register over one-thousand new COVID-19 cases for the second day in a row amid a recent spike in infections in the capital region. 

According to health authorities and regional governments, one-thousand-113 people were newly diagnosed with the virus on Wednesday as of 9 p.m. The official daily tally, which is scheduled to be announced at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, is expected to reach one-thousand-200 or more. 

One-thousand-212 COVID-19 cases were reported on Wednesday, the second-highest daily figure since the outbreak of the pandemic in the country. The highest tally was reported on December 25 last year when it peaked at one-thousand-240. 

As the greater Seoul area accounted for over 80 percent of new cases for the eighth consecutive day through Wednesday, authorities are keeping an eagle eye on the number of local infections in the capital city to be announced on Thursday. 

If Seoul registers 556 new local cases or more on Thursday, it will meet the criteria to begin Level Four measures, the harshest social distancing protocols under the new four-tier distancing scheme. 

The greater Seoul area had postponed adopting a more relaxed set of measures under the new distancing system by a week and again extended the current five-tier scheme by another week until July 14. 

However, Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum warned on Wednesday that the government will consider placing the region under the Level Four restrictions when the new distancing system is in place in the region unless the number of daily COVID-19 infections drops in the next two to three days.