South Korea has reported new COVID-19 cases in the upper 13-hundreds, hitting a new high for the third day in a row as the country enters a fourth wave of the outbreak.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said Saturday that one-thousand-378 new infections were confirmed throughout Friday, raising the country's accumulated caseload to 166-thousand-722.

The new daily record is up by 62 from the previous day.

Of the new cases, one-thousand-320 are local transmissions and 58 are from overseas.

Over a thousand cases, or some 77 percent, of domestic infections come from the capital region including 501 in Seoul, 441 in Gyeonggi Province and nearly 80 in Incheon.

The daily tally has set an all time high for a third straight day, breaking all records since the country reported its very first case in January last year. 

Two more deaths have been reported, bringing the death toll to two-thousand-38. 

On Friday, the government said the highest Level Four social distancing will be enforced in the greater metro area from Monday for two weeks. Under Level Four, personal gatherings of up to two people are allowed after 6 p.m.