SEOUL, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) -- South Korea reported 967 more cases of COVID-19 as of midnight Wednesday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 60,740.

The daily caseload fell below 1,000 in three days, but it hovered above 100 for 54 days since Nov. 8 due to small cluster infections in Seoul and its surrounding Gyeonggi province as well as imported cases.

Of the new cases, 365 were Seoul residents and 219 were people residing in Gyeonggi province.

Twenty-seven were imported from overseas, lifting the combined figure to 5,385.

Twenty-one more deaths were confirmed, leaving the death toll at 900. The total fatality rate stood at 1.48 percent.

A total of 836 more patients were discharged from quarantine after making full recovery, pulling up the combined number to 42,271. The total recovery rate was 69.59 percent.

Since Jan. 3, the country has tested more than 4.21 million people, among whom 3,982,802 tested negative for the virus and 170,338 are being checked.