File photo: AFP

SEOUL, April 14 (Xinhua) -- South Korea reported 27 more cases of the COVID-19 compared to 24 hours ago as of midnight Tuesday local time, raising the total number of infections to 10,564.

The daily caseload hovered below 50 for the sixth straight day. Of the new cases, 12 were imported from overseas.

Five more deaths were confirmed, lifting the death toll to 222. The total fatality rate came in at 2.10 percent.

A total of 87 more patients were discharged from quarantine after making full recovery, pulling up the combined number to 7,534.

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) has updated the data once a day at 10:00 a.m. local time from March 10, after having announced it twice a day.

Except for the first 30 cases, all the infections have been reported since Feb. 18. The country has raised its four-tier virus alert to the highest "red" level.

The total number of infections in Daegu, about 300 km southeast of Seoul, and its surrounding North Gyeongsang province came to 6,822 and 1,342 respectively. It accounted for almost 80 percent of the total.

The numbers in Seoul and its adjacent Gyeonggi province gained to 612 and 639 each.

Daegu became the epicenter of the viral spread here as the biggest cluster of infections was found in the metropolis with a 2.5 million population. Daegu has been designated by the government as a "special disaster zone."

The Daegu cluster was closely linked to the church services of a homegrown minor religious sect, called Sincheonji, in Daegu. Members of the sect are known to sit on the floor closely side by side during church services.

Since Jan. 3, the country has tested more than 527,000 people, among whom 502,223 tested negative for the virus and 14,651 were being checked.