SEOUL, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- South Korea reported 440 more cases of COVID-19 as of midnight Tuesday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 88,120.

The daily caseload was up from 356 in the previous day, rising above 400 for three days.

The daily number of infections hovered above 100 since Nov. 8, 2020 owing to cluster infections in Seoul and its surrounding Gyeonggi province as well as imported cases.

Of the new cases, 138 were Seoul residents and 137 were people residing in Gyeonggi province.

Twenty-three cases were imported from overseas, lifting the combined figure to 6,963.

Three more deaths were confirmed, leaving the death toll at 1,576. The total fatality rate stood at 1.79 percent.

A total of 656 more patients were discharged from quarantine after making full recovery, pulling up the combined number to 79,050. The total recovery rate was 89.71 percent.

The country has tested more than 6.51 million people, among whom 6,347,880 tested negative for the virus and 74,988 are being checked.