S. Korea's new COVID-19 cases more than double in week to nearly 27,000

Seoul [South Korea], July 18 :South Korea's new coronavirus cases more than doubled Monday from a week earlier amid a resurgence of infections and the fast spread of a highly contagious new omicron subvariant.
The country reported 26,299 new COVID-19 infections, including 319 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 18,788,056, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.
Monday's figure fell from 40,342 cases on Sunday and 41,310 on Saturday, but it more than doubled from 12,681 cases logged a week earlier due to the highly contagious omicron subvariant BA.5.
South Korea has seen a marked increase in infections from end-June amid eased virus curbs.
The daily count hit over 10,000 on June 29 for the first time in about three weeks before jumping to over 20,000 on July 9 and then above 40,000 on Wednesday.
The KDCA reported 11 deaths from the virus Monday, putting the death toll at 24,753. The fatality rate stood at 0.13 percent.
Source: Yonhap