The newly confirmed cases fell below 100 again, after recording 147 on Saturday. The figure moved above or below 100 for the past week.

Two more deaths were confirmed, lifting the death toll to 104. The total fatality rate came in at 1.17 percent.

A total of 297 more patients were discharged from quarantine after making full recovery, pulling up the combined number to 2,909. The number of recoveries kept surpassing new infections.

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

The virus infection soared for the past weeks, with 8,866 new cases reported from Feb. 19 to March 21. 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 increased to 6,387 and 1,254 respectively. It accounted for about 86 percent of the total.

The numbers in Seoul and its adjacent Gyeonggi province came to 324 and 337 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 331,000 people, among whom 308,343 tested negative for the virus and 14,540 were being checked.