The government said Monday that the reproduction rate for COVID-19 rose to one-point-two last week, hitting the highest figure since mid-July.

Lee Seung-woo, a senior official at the Ministry of Interior and Safety, said in a government meeting that the rate has risen for the past three weeks. It refers to the average number of people one COVID-19 patient infects, with a number at or over one meaning that the virus is spreading.

The official added that average COVID-19 infections per day came to two-thousand-133 last week, the largest since the fifth week of September. It surpassed two-thousand again for the first time in five weeks. 

He said the daily average of critically ill patients marked 365 last week, up nine-point-six percent from the previous week. An average of 18 people died last week, most of them over 60.  

Lee said the government has secured more than one-thousand-760 hospital beds for COVID-19 patients under an administrative order issued last week, preparing for a surge in infections following eased social distancing and curbs.