Nearly 25-hundred COVID-19 cases were reported on Friday amid a continued surge in infections. 

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency(KDCA) said that two-thousand-486 new infections were detected throughout the previous day, raising the country's accumulated caseload to 313-thousand-773.

The tally marks the fifth highest figure overall and the largest for a Friday since the outbreak of the pandemic. The previous Friday high was two-thousand-430 reported last week.

The government extended the current social distancing measures by two weeks in light of the continued spike. 

Of the new cases, two-thousand-451 were local transmissions, while 35 were from overseas. The greater metro area accounted for 76-point-seven percent of local cases, reporting one-thousand-880. Non-capital areas added 571 cases.

Sixteen more deaths have been reported, bringing the death toll to two-thousand-497. The fatality rate stands at zero-point-eight percent. The number of critically ill patients dropped by 13 from the previous day to 323.