SEOUL, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- South Korea reported 41,286 new COVID-19 cases as of midnight Tuesday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 24,502,968, the health authorities said Wednesday.

The daily caseload was down from 47,917 in the previous day and lower than 93,960 tallied a week earlier, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.

For the past week, the daily average number of confirmed cases was 44,301.

Among the new cases, 326 were imported from overseas, lifting the total to 64,739.

The number of infected people who were in a serious condition stood at 494, down three from the previous day.

Fifty-nine more deaths were confirmed, leaving the death toll at 27,950. The total fatality rate was 0.11 percent.