Daily COVID-19 cases remain below 170-thousand for a third day, with the number of cumulative cases approaching three million.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said on Sunday that 163-thousand-566 cases were compiled throughout the previous day, including 152 cases from overseas. The total caseload came to two million-994-thousand-841.

The daily tally dropped by some 26-hundred from a day ago and stayed in the 160-thousand range for the third consecutive day.

The figure increased one-point-six times from a week ago and about three times from two weeks ago.

Health authorities expect the figure to reach around 250-thousand in mid-March.

With soaring infections, the number of patients in critical care rose by 20 to 663. The figure, which stayed in the 200s in the middle of the month, surpassed 600 on Friday and stayed above the mark for a third day.

The ICU occupancy rate for critical COVID-19 patients also climbed to 44-point-nine percent as of 5 p.m. Saturday.

Forty-nine deaths were reported in the past 24 hours, raising the death toll to seven-thousand-944. The fatality rate fell to zero-point-27 percent.

The number of home-treatment patients rose by some 65-thousand to over 768-thousand.