South Korea is hinted to report nearly 10,000 cases for a single day as coronavirus variant outbreak continues to take center stage in the ongoing pandemic.

The Yonhap News Agency reported late Tuesday afternoon that South Korea reported 9,218 cases as of 9 p.m. Tuesday with the number of cases escalating due to increasing prevalence of omicron variant of coronavirus cases.

A day earlier, South Korea reported 8,571 cases throughout Monday, according to tally form the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. It is the first time that the daily figure reached above 8,000 cases since the country reported its first infection in January 2020.

The prevalence of omicron variant comes as South Korea announces reports on the severity of its infection compared to other cases of COVID-19.

The disease control authority said as of Monday’s end, the severity rate for the omicron variant of COVID-19 reached 0.16 percent, reaching one-fifth of 0.8 percent of fatality rate reached for the transmission of Delta variant of COVID-19.

The international community has touted the omicron variant as a factor with potential to reduce the infection rate of COVID-19 pandemic and reduce the severity of socioeconomic impact of virulent trend on the globe.