South Korea's new coronavirus cases stayed above 18,000 for the third straight day Thursday, as the nation embarks on a summer vacation season amid the eased social distancing restrictions.

The country added 18,511 new COVID-19 infections, including 194 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 18,451,862, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.

Thursday's tally is similar to the 18,147 on Tuesday and the 19,371 on Wednesday but nearly doubled from the 9,591 a week ago.

The KDCA has said the pace of the virus' reproduction has recently gone up amid the nation's increasing mobility in the summer vacation season under eased social distancing rules.

The country added 10 COVID-19 deaths, raising the death toll to 24,593. The fatality rate stood at 0.13 percent.

The number of critically ill patients fell by five to 56, the KDCA said. (Yonhap)