Authorities reported two-thousand-52 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, staying above two-thousand for the second day.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency(KDCA) said Friday that the new infections detected throughout Thursday raised the country's accumulated caseload to 232-thousand-859.

The daily figure dropped 100 from the previous day but remained above two-thousand for the second day. Amid the continued surge, the government extended current social distancing and bans on private gatherings for two more weeks. 

Of the new cases, two-thousand-one were local transmissions and 51 were from overseas.

By region, the greater metro area accounted for 64-point-nine percent of the domestic total, reporting one-thousand-299 cases. The figure remained above one-thousand for the third consecutive day.  

Non-capital regions added 702 cases, taking up 35-point-one percent of local cases. 

Six more deaths were reported raising the death toll to two-thousand-197, with the fatality rate at zero-point-94 percent. The number of critically ill patients stands at 385, remaining above 300 for three weeks.