SEOUL - South Korea reported 178,574 new COVID-19 infections and 61 deaths in the past 24 hours, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.

Yonhap News Agency quoted KDCA as saying that the infection toll rose to 21,861,296 and the death toll reached 25,813.

"The increase seems to be attributable to the growth in the number of people traveling overseas during the summer vacation season," Yonhap added.