South Korea's new coronavirus cases fell back below 10,000 Thursday amid the slowdown of the virus.

The country added 9,595 new COVID-19 infections, including 142 cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 18,359,341, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.

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

While the virus curve is generally trending downward, Thursday's figure is up by 2,102 cases 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 in South Korea 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 death toll to 24,547. The fatality rate stood at 0.13 percent.

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