The nation reported over 68-thousand new COVID-19 cases amid the continued upsurge in infections nationwide.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency(KDCA) said on Friday that 68-thousand-632 cases were compiled throughout the previous day, including 323 cases from abroad.

The country's cumulative caseload came to about 19 million-77-thousand.

The daily tally dropped by some 25-hundred from a day ago to fall below 70-thousand, but the on-week doubling continued as the figure increased one-point-77 times from a week ago and three-point-56 times from two weeks ago. The figure marks the largest for Friday tallies in 13 weeks.

With the rise in infections, the number of seriously or critically ill COVID-19 patients is also increasing. The figure rose by 23 from a day earlier to 130, doubling from a week ago.

Thursday added 31 deaths, the highest count in 55 days since May 28 when it marked 36. The death toll came to 24-thousand-825 with the fatality rate staying at zero-point-13 percent.

The occupancy rate of hospital beds for seriously ill COVID-19 patients also rose to 18-point-two percent, up zero-point-eight percentage points from a day earlier.