SEOUL, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- South Korea reported 718 more cases of COVID-19 as of 0:00 a.m. Monday local time compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 43,484.

It was lower than the country’s highest daily caseload of 1,030 tallied on Sunday, but the reading stayed above 100 for 37 days since Nov. 8 due to small cluster infections in Seoul and its surrounding Gyeonggi province as well as imported cases.

The recent cluster infections were traceable to church services, nursing homes, and private cram schools as well as gatherings among families and acquaintances.

Of the new cases, 217 were Seoul residents and 220 were people residing in Gyeonggi province.

Thirty-six were imported from overseas, lifting the combined figure to 4,930.

Seven more deaths were confirmed, leaving the death toll at 587. The total fatality rate stood at 1.35 percent.

A total of 288 more patients were discharged from quarantine after making full recovery, pulling up the combined number to 32,102. The total recovery rate was 73.82 percent.

Since Jan. 3, the country has tested more than 3.39 million people, among whom 3,264,308 tested negative for the virus and 89,247 are being checked.