SEOUL, March 30 (Xinhua) -- South Korea reported 78 more cases of COVID-19 compared to 24 hours ago as of midnight Monday local time, raising the total number of infections to 9,661.

Of the new cases, 13 were found at airports. The country will force all entrants from overseas to be put under self-quarantine for two weeks beginning Wednesday midnight local time.

Six more deaths were confirmed, lifting the death toll to 158. The total fatality rate came in at 1.64 percent.

A total of 195 more patients were discharged from quarantine after making full recovery, pulling up the combined number to 5,228.

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 31 cases, all the infections have been reported since Feb. 19. 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 6,624 and 1,298 respectively. It accounted for over 80 percent of the total.

The numbers in Seoul and its adjacent Gyeonggi province came to 426 and 463 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 395,000 people, among whom 372,002 tested negative for the virus and 13,531 were being checked.