SEOUL, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- South Korea reported 401 more cases of COVID-19 as of midnight Thursday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 73,918.

The daily caseload stayed below 500 for four straight days after peaking at 1,240 on Dec. 25.

The virus spread showed signs of moderating this year, but the daily number of infections hovered above 100 since Nov. 8 owing to small cluster infections in Seoul and its surrounding Gyeonggi province as well as imported cases.

Of the new cases, 122 were Seoul residents and 133 were people residing in Gyeonggi province.

Twenty-one were imported from overseas, lifting the combined figure to 6,031.

Sixteen more deaths were confirmed, leaving the death toll at 1,316. The total fatality rate stood at 1.78 percent.

A total of 666 more patients were discharged from quarantine after making full recovery, pulling up the combined number to 60,846. The total recovery rate was 82.32 percent.

The country tested more than 5.23 million people, among whom 5,022,620 tested negative for the virus and 141,070 are being checked.