SEOUL, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- South Korea reported 288 more cases of the COVID-19 as of 0:00 a.m. Thursday local time compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 16,346.

The daily caseload soared in triple figures for seven straight days. The number of confirmed cases for the past seven days reached 1,576 due to infections in Seoul and its surrounding Gyeonggi province traceable to church services.

Of the new cases, 135 were Seoul residents and 81 were people residing in Gyeonggi province.

Twelve were imported from overseas, lifting the combined figure to 2,688.

One more death was confirmed, leaving the death toll at 307. The total fatality rate stood at 1.88 percent.

A total of 57 more patients were discharged from quarantine after making full recovery, pulling up the combined number to 14,063. The total recovery rate was 86.03 percent.

Since Jan. 3, the country has tested more than 1.73 million people, among whom 1,682,739 tested negative for the virus and 34,998 are being checked.