South Korea reported 1,241 daily cases of the coronavirus in a new record high for the country, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said Friday.

Chung made the remark during a government COVID-19 pandemic response meeting, calling on health authorities and local governments to respond "strictly" to violations of social distancing rules.

"A joint government monitoring team found through onsite inspections that there were still many places that were not following the antivirus measures properly," he said, noting that some restaurants and bars entertained guests after 9 p.m. after locking their doors and switching off signs.

"A vast majority of the nation is faithfully adhering to the government's antivirus measures despite the inconvenience and pain they entail, but if a few cheat for their own gains it is difficult to expect results from participating in the antivirus measures," he added.

Chung said there was a large outbreak at the Dongbu Detention Center in eastern Seoul and called for increased efforts to prevent outbreaks and find asymptomatic COVID-19 patients at such crowded facilities.

He noted that more than 110,000 COVID-19 tests have been conducted daily at temporary screening facilities set up in the capital area.

To all public servants, he asked that they defend the COVID-19 front lines even during the Christmas and New Year's holidays in the last step to a "spring of hope." (Yonhap)