Health authorities say that if the current upsurge in COVID-19 infections goes unchecked, the country could face a daily caseload exceeding two thousand by the end of this month.

In a Thursday briefing, Jeong Eun-kyeong, head of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), said that based on mathematical modeling, given the current pace, daily infections will likely reach one-thousand-400 by late July, and some two-thousand-140 if the outbreak worsens.

Jeong said, however, if the spread of the virus is curbed, case numbers may drop.

She said if the vaccination drive proceeds as planned and safety measures are observed to exacting standards, infections can drop to a much lower level by late September.

Jeong said the number of people testing positive for COVID-19 in the past week has grown by more than 50 percent from the three previous weeks, adding that authorities assess the country is in the early stages of a fourth wave of the pandemic. 

South Korea on Thursday reported a record number of daily cases since it confirmed its first patient in January of last year, peaking at one-thousand-275.