Daily COVID-19 cases jumped by 16-thousand to surpass 100-thousand for the first time on Friday amid the rapid spread of the highly transmissible omicron variant.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency(KDCA) said on Friday that 109-thousand-831 cases were compiled throughout the previous day, including 116 cases from overseas. The total caseload came to one million-755-thousand-806.

The figure has doubled for the past two weeks. Health authorities earlier expected the figure to reach up to 170-thousand by the end of the month. However, the National Institute for Mathematical Sciences projected the peak would come later, with the figure likely to reach up to 270-thousand in mid-March.

The number of critical patients is down by four to 385. The figure remains in the 300s for the fifth consecutive day after being in the 200s since the end of last month.

The ICU occupancy rate for critical COVID-19 patients rose slightly to 29-point-four percent nationwide as of 5 p.m. Thursday.

Forty-five deaths were reported in the past 24 hours, with the death toll rising to seven-thousand-283. The fatality rate fell to zero-point-41 percent.

The number of home-treatment patients soared by about 37-thousand to over 351-thousand.