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Today (5th), the number of new corona cases is expected to be around 700. Although the number of tests decreased last Saturday, the number of confirmed cases recorded the highest this year as of Saturday, and the flow continues today as of yesterday. As the cluster infection continues in the metropolitan area and the delta mutation is rapidly spreading overseas, the number of confirmed cases imported from abroad also exceeded 80 in over a year. 



Correspondent Kwon Ran.



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A furniture store in Gyeonggi-do.



Every alley of the store is crowded with family visitors.



[Furniture store official: It rained this week, so there were a lot of (people), and last week there wasn't that many.] It



rained all day during the holidays, so crowds flocked to the indoor multi-use facility.



The spread of COVID-19 did not stop even on holidays, when the number of tests was drastically reduced.



As of Saturday, it was the first 700 people this year and the highest number since December last year.



As of Sunday, the number of confirmed cases is expected to be slightly lower than this, but it is expected to be around 700.



Additional confirmed cases continue from existing collective infection sources such as restaurants, language schools, and pubs in the metropolitan area, and new cases of infection are emerging in daily life, such as indoor sports facilities and daycare centers.



About 8 out of 10 cases in Korea have come out of the metropolitan area for the fifth day.



[Sohn Young-rae/Chairman of Social Strategy Team, Central Accident Management Headquarters: This is a rapidly increasing aspect. Tensions over quarantine are lowering. The cooperation of residents of the metropolitan area and those who have not been vaccinated is important.] The



average daily number of confirmed cases in the metropolitan area over the past week has also exceeded 500 for three days in a row.



In the new distancing scheme, this is a three-level range.



To make matters worse, the number of confirmed cases imported from abroad also surged to 80 in nearly a year, raising concerns about the influx of 'mutated viruses'.



The government said that the rate of infection in the metropolitan area is threatening, and urged each local government to strengthen quarantine measures to prevent it from spreading to non-metropolitan areas ahead of the holiday season.