coronavirus-additional cases
S. Korea's new COVID-19 cases jump to over 73,000 as subvariant spreads
SEOUL, July 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's new coronavirus cases jumped to over 73,000 Tuesday as a highly contagious omicron subvariant is spreading fast amid eased virus curbs.
The country reported 73,582 new COVID-19 infections, including 351 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 18,861,593, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.
Tuesday's figure more than doubled from 26,299 cases a day earlier. The daily caseload stood at 40,342 on Sunday and 41,310 on Saturday.
The country has seen a marked increase in infections from end-June as the omicron subvariant BA.5 spreads during the summer holidays. 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 12 deaths from the virus Tuesday, putting the death toll at 24,765. The fatality rate stood at 0.13 percent.
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