Seoul, Jul 14 (IANS): South Korea's new coronavirus cases more than doubled in a week to near 40,000 on Thursday, as the country has experienced a resurgence of infections amid the fast spread of a highly contagious new omicron subvariant.

The country added 39,196 new Covid-19 infections, including 338 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 18,641,278, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) was quoted as saying by Yonhap news agency.

Thursday's figure also more than doubled from 18,511 cases logged a week earlier, as the country has seen an upturn in infections from end-June due to the highly contagious omicron subvariant BA.5.

The daily count hit over 10,000 on June 29 for the first time in about three weeks, and rose to over 20,000 on Saturday and further to 40,000 on Wednesday.

The KDCA reported 16 deaths from the virus Thursday, putting the death toll at 24,696. The fatality rate stood at 0.13 per cent.

The number of critically ill patients came to 69, up from the previous day's 67. Despite the surge in new infections, the figure has stayed below 100 since last month.

The KDCA has said the country entered a new virus wave, ending a downward trend from the peak of more than 620,000 in mid-March, and that the daily infections could surge to as high as 200,000 next month.