South Korea has reported another day of around 1,000 new coronavirus cases, raising hopes about the beginning of the end of the fourth wave of the pandemic.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency on Tuesday said 1,073 new infections were confirmed in the last 24 hours, including 777 from the greater Seoul area and 25 imported from abroad.

The latest cases raised the cumulative total to 344,518.

The loss of 21 more lives to the virus raised the death toll to 2,689.

With the national COVID-19 inoculation rate nearing the government's target of 70 percent fully vaccinated, preparations are being made to gradually shift to a "living with COVID" scheme from next month.

More than 78 percent of people in South Korea have received one dose of a vaccine and over 65 percent have been fully vaccinated, according to the lastest data from the KDCA.