Daily new COVID-19 cases fell below 300-thousand on Friday, but the number of deaths rose to a new high.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said on Friday that 282-thousand-987 cases were compiled throughout the previous day, including 107 cases from overseas. The total caseload came to five million-822-thousand-626.

The daily tally dropped by some 44-thousand from a day ago to fall below 300-thousand after two days. The pace of the rise appears to have slowed a bit as the figure is expected to peak in the coming days.

Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said on Friday that the daily cases are expected to peak at 370-thousand in the next ten days.

Amid the soaring infections, the number of patients in critical care rose by three to one-thousand-116.

The occupancy rate of ICU beds for critical COVID-19 patients nationwide slightly rose to 61-point-five percent as of 12 a.m. Friday.

Thursday saw 229 deaths to mark a new daily record, replacing the previous high of 216 tallied on Saturday. The death toll rose to nine-thousand-875 to approach ten-thousand, with the fatality rate standing at zero-point-17 percent.

The number of home-treatment patients rose by some 23-thousand to over one million-318-thousand.