SEOUL, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- South Korea reported 1,020 more cases of COVID-19 as of midnight Monday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 64,264.

The daily caseload rose above 1,000 in three days after recording 657 in the previous day.

The daily number of infections hovered above 100 for 58 days since Nov. 8 due to small cluster infections in Seoul and its surrounding Gyeonggi province as well as imported cases.

The daily average number of confirmed cases for the past week was 941.

Of the new cases, 324 were Seoul residents and 260 were people residing in Gyeonggi province.

Thirty-five were imported from overseas, lifting the combined figure to 5,497.

Nineteen more deaths were confirmed, leaving the death toll at 981. The total fatality rate stood at 1.53 percent.

A total of 733 more patients were discharged from quarantine after making full recovery, pulling up the combined number to 45,240. The total recovery rate was 70.39 percent.

Since Jan. 3, the country has tested more than 4.37 million people, among whom 4,121,612 tested negative for the virus and 190,732 are being checked.