South Korea added more than 200-thousand new COVID-19 cases, with the number of critical cases surpassing one-thousand for the first time in about two months.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said on Tuesday that 202-thousand-721 cases were compiled throughout the previous day, including 74 cases from overseas. The total caseload came to four million-869-thousand-691.

The daily tally dropped by about eight-thousand from a day ago, but increased one-point-five times from a week ago and two times from two weeks ago.

Amid the soaring infections, the number of patients in critical care rose by 52 to one-thousand-seven, surpassing the one-thousand mark for the first time in 64 days. The figure topped the mark again after January 3, when it posted one-thousand-15 during the spread of the delta variant.

Health authorities earlier expected the figure to exceed 12-hundred on Election Day on Wednesday and rise up to two-thousand-750 by the end of the month.

The occupancy rate of ICU beds for critical COVID-19 patients nationwide stood at 59-point-six percent as of 12 a.m. Tuesday.

Monday saw 186 deaths from the virus, raising the death toll to nine-thousand-282. The fatality rate stands at zero-point-19 percent. 

The number of home-treatment patients rose by some 75-hundred to over one million-163-thousand.