Seoul, Jul 3 (IANS): South Korea's new coronavirus cases stayed above 10,000 for the second consecutive day on Sunday as the daily cases seemed to be rising again after months of subsiding.

The country added 10,059 Covid-19 infections, including 191 cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 18,389,611, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) was quoted as saying by Yonhap news agency.

The country reported eight Covid-19 deaths, raising the death toll to 24,570. The fatality rate stood at 0.13 per cent.

The number of critically ill patients stood at 53, the KDCA said.

South Korea's Covid-19 outbreaks have shown a downward trend after daily new cases peaked at an all-time high of over 620,000 in mid-March.

But the KDCA has said the pace of decline has recently slowed down amid waning vaccine immunity and increasing social interactions following eased social distancing rules, and that a possible spike in infections lies ahead.

Sunday's figure is up by more than 3,800 from a week ago and nearly 4,000 from two weeks ago.

Imported cases have remained above 100 since June 24 due to a rise in international flights.

Of the 9,868 locally transmitted cases, Seoul accounted for 2,437 cases, with the surrounding Gyeonggi Province reporting 2,637 cases. There were 516 infections in Incheon, 40 km west of Seoul. The greater Seoul area accounted for 56 per cent of the total caseload.