Health authorities in South Korea expect daily new COVID-19 cases to further spike after the latest tally hit a fresh high of over two-thousand-400 following the Chuseok holiday.

Senior Health Ministry official Lee Gi-il said on Friday that there could be a further rise in cases next week as more people in the capital region get tested after returning from their hometown visits.

Lee assessed that while the virus situation is accelerating in the Seoul metropolitan area, outside regions are also at risk of cases shooting up following Chuseok.

There were two-thousand-434 new cases recorded throughout Thursday, the highest to be logged since the start of the pandemic early last year.