South Korea's new COVID-19 cases slip back below 10,000

People wait in line to get tested for COVID-19 at a testing center near Seoul Station on a rainy June 30. Yonhap

New COVID-19 cases fell back below 10,000 for Wednesday amid the slowdown of the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reported 9,595 infections, including 142 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 18,359,341.

Daily cases remained below 10,000 from June 10 until Monday but rose above 10,000 Tuesday before falling again.

While the virus curve is generally trending downward, Wednesday's figure is up by 2,102 from a week ago and 1,607 from two weeks ago, in a possible sign that the spread of the coronavirus is picking up speed again.

The pandemic peaked in mid-March with more than 621,000 daily cases and has since been in retreat. But the KDCA has said the pace of decline has recently slowed down amid waning immunity and eased social distancing rules.

The KDCA reported 10 deaths from COVID-19, raising the toll to 24,547 for a fatality rate of 0.13 percent.

The number of critically ill patients came to 54, down five from a day ago. (Yonhap)