Health authorities reported one-thousand-715 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, amid lingering concerns about a surge in infections with the gradual transition to normalcy.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency(KDCA) said that the new cases raised the country's accumulative total to 383-thousand-407.

The daily tally fell by 43 from the previous day and remained below two-thousand for a second straight day apparently due to fewer tests on the weekend. The figure, however, may rise above that threshold by midweek amid increased travel and gatherings following eased restrictions. 

Of the new cases, one-thousand-698 were local transmissions, while 17 were from overseas. The capital region accounted for 76-point-one percent of local cases, reporting one-thousand-293. Non-capital regions added 405 cases. 

Eighteen more deaths have been reported, raising the death toll to two-thousand-998. The fatality rate stands at zero-point-78 percent. 

The number of critically ill patients jumped by 16 to 425, the largest since August 27.