SEOUL, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- South Korea confirmed 231 more cases of the COVID-19 on Monday, raising the total number of infections to 833.

As of 4:00 p.m. local time (0700 GMT), the number of infected patients totaled 833, up 231 from the prior day. The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) has updated the data twice a day at 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. local time.

The country raised its four-tier virus alert to the highest "red" level on Sunday as the virus infections soared for the past week. A total of 571 new cases were reported from Wednesday to Sunday.

Under the red alert, the health authorities recommended people with fever or respiratory symptoms to refrain from attending schools and going to work, asking pregnant women, the elderly and the chronically ill to avoid crowded places.

The education ministry on Sunday ordered all preschools, primary and secondary schools nationwide to delay the opening day of the first semester by one week to March 9.

The country's parliament cancelled its plenary session earlier in the day after it was known that the floor leader of the main conservative opposition United Future Party and two other fellow lawmakers had contact with an infected patient at a forum last week and took a test for the virus early Monday.