Nearly 16-hundred new COVID-19 cases were reported on Tuesday amid the continued nationwide spread of the virus.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency(KDCA) said Tuesday that one-thousand-597 new infections were detected throughout Monday, raising the country's accumulated caseload to 263-thousand-374.

The daily figure jumped by 222 from the previous day to mark the largest tally for Tuesday, raising concerns of a possible spike ahead of the Chuseok holiday later this month.   

Of the new cases, one-thousand-563 were local transmissions, while 34 were from overseas.

By region, the capital area reported one-thousand-38 cases, accounting for 66-point-four percent of all domestic cases. The tally has so far been over one-thousand every day this month except for Monday. 

Three more deaths have been reported, raising the death toll to two-thousand-330. The fatality rate stands at zero-point-88 percent.

The number of critically ill patients rose by six from the previous day to 364.