SEOUL, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- South Korea reported 178,574 new COVID-19 cases as of midnight Wednesday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 21,861,296, the health authorities said Thursday.
The daily caseload was down from 180,803 in the previous day, but it was higher than 137,193 tallied a week earlier, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.
For the past week, the daily average number of confirmed cases was 125,487.
Among the new cases, 633 were imported from overseas, lifting the total to 53,537.
The number of infected people who were in a serious condition stood at 470, up one from the previous day.
Sixty-one more deaths were confirmed, leaving the death toll at 25,813. The total fatality rate was 0.12 percent. ■