South Korea's coronavirus cases rose to 6,767 on Saturday, up by 174 from late Friday, with more than 60 percent of the total cases linked to a secretive church at the centre of the country's outbreak, health authorities said.

The death toll also rose to 46 from 44, Kwon Jun-wook, the Korea Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention's (KCDC) deputy director told a briefing on Saturday.

The number of people infected with the contagious disease has spiked in South Korea since mid-February when a 61-year-old woman known as "Patient 31" tested positive after attending religious services at a branch of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus in the southeastern city of Daegu.