SEOUL, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- South Korea reported 271 more cases of the COVID-19 as of midnight Sunday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 31,004.

The daily caseload fell below 300 in six days, but it grew in triple digits for 16 days due to the continued small cluster infections in Seoul and its surrounding Gyeonggi province as well as imported cases.

Of the new cases, 109 were Seoul residents and 74 were people residing in Gyeonggi province.

Sixteen were imported from overseas, lifting the combined figure to 4,424.

Four more deaths were confirmed, leaving the death toll at 509. The total fatality rate stood at 1.64 percent.

A total of 73 more patients were discharged from quarantine after making full recovery, pulling up the combined number to 26,539. The total recovery rate was 85.60 percent.

Since Jan. 3, the country has tested more than 2.92 million people, among whom 2,834,676 tested negative for the virus and 56,455 are being checked.