By Trend

South Korea saw a slight uptick in daily new infections of the novel coronavirus on Saturday as the country braced for sporadic cluster infections and a rise in imported cases, Trend reports citing Yonhap.

The 147 new cases, which were detected Friday, brought the nation's total infections to 8,799, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC). It was so far the second highest number of new cases this week following 152 new cases identified on Wednesday.

The country's death toll has surpassed 100 since it reported its first fatality a month ago.

So far, 102 people, mostly elderly patients with underlying illnesses, have died from the respiratory virus that emerged in China late last year,

The pace of daily new infections has shown marked signs of slowing since the second week of this month as health authorities completed extensive testing of 210,000 Shincheonji followers at the center of the rapid spread.

But the authorities are still on high alert over new clusters of infections, including at a call center in Seoul's Guro district and nursing hospitals in Daegu and surrounding North Gyeongsang Province.