South Korea's daily coronavirus cases stayed below 1,000 for the second straight day on Monday due mainly to less testing over the weekend amid tougher virus curbs that have been extended for another week.

The country added 808 more COVID-19 cases, including 787 local infections, raising the total caseload to 57,680, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

The daily infections fell from 970 cases on Sunday. In the past week, the nation's daily infections hovered around 1,000.

Eleven people died from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, raising the death toll to 819, with the fatality rate at 1.42 percent.

Adding woes to the country's battle against the pandemic, the KDCA confirmed a new, potentially more transmissible coronavirus variant from three people who arrived from Britain last Tuesday.

The government said it will suspend all flights from London to Incheon until Jan. 7 to prevent the virus variant from spreading in Korea, while making all incoming passengers from Britain and South Africa submit documents that prove they tested negative for COVID-19.

Moreover, the government said it will have most of the passengers who arrived in Korea take an additional virus test before they are discharged from a two-week quarantine.

To contain the pandemic, the government said it will be able to begin vaccinations initially for medical staff, inmates and workers at senior care facilities as early as February.

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun on Monday called for extra antivirus precautions inside homes given a quarter of all the new local COVID-19 patients over the past month were infected with the virus through family members.

He said that this week will be a "decisive turning point" that could put the country on a path to COVID-19 proliferation or containment.

The government has warned against raising the distancing scheme to Level 3 in the greater Seoul area from the current Level 2.5, as it may have a grave impact particularly on the manufacturing and services industries.

Level 3 can be adopted when locally transmitted cases hover between 800 and 1,000 for a week or the daily tally doubles from the previous day.

If the toughest curbs are imposed, more than 2 million shops and facilities will be ordered to shut down.

On Sunday, the KDCA extended Level 2.5 distancing measures in the capital area and the Level 2 restrictions in the rest of the country until Jan. 3.

Health authorities will decide whether to move on to Level 3, the highest in its five-tier scheme, on Jan. 3.

Instead of applying measures that would deal a heavy blow to millions of small merchants, health authorities have deployed "targeted" virus curbs.

Since last Wednesday, the greater Seoul area has banned gatherings of five or more people. Restaurants in the greater Seoul area face a fine if they allow gatherings of more than four people. The strongest-ever measures have been applied nationwide since last Thursday as well.

Ski resorts and famous tourism venues were shut down to slow the spread of the virus during the Christmas and New Year's holiday season.

The country has been applying Level 2.5 social distancing rules in the greater Seoul area, home to half of its 51.6 million population, and Level 2 rules in the rest of the country.

A relentless spike in virus cases spawned concerns about a shortage of hospital beds and a rise in fatalities. Health authorities have issued a rare order to private hospitals to secure more intensive-care beds for COVID-19 patients.

The third wave of the pandemic is raging across the nation. Of the newly identified local infections, more than 70 percent of cases were reported in the capital and its surrounding areas.

Of the local infections, 297 cases were reported in Seoul and 188 cases in Gyeonggi Province that surrounds the capital. Incheon, west of Seoul, reported 45 more cases.

Other municipalities reported new infections, with the country's largest port city of Busan adding 34 cases and North Gyeongsang Province reporting 45 new cases.

The number of seriously or critically ill COVID-19 patients reached 295, up from 293 a day earlier.

The total number of people released from quarantine after making full recoveries stood at 39,268, up 228 from the previous day.

The country, meanwhile, added 21 imported cases, increasing the total to 5,318. Ten cases came from Asian countries except for China, followed by five from the United States and five from Europe.

The country has carried out 4,038,307 coronavirus tests since Jan. 3, including 31,895 tests in the past 24 hours. The country reported its first case on Jan. 20.

The pandemic, which started in China late last year, has killed more than 1.76 million people worldwide and infected more than 80 million as of Monday, according to a tally from Johns Hopkins University. (Yonhap)