South Korea's new COVID-19 cases more than doubled from a week ago Tuesday, a departure from the steady downturn in new infections the country has seen in recent months.

The country reported 33,248 new COVID-19 infections, including 87 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 25,164,695, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.

Tuesday's tally tripled from 11,040 a day ago and more than doubled from a week ago, when the corresponding figure was 15,466.

While the virus wave has been on the decline since it peaked at over 180,000 cases on Aug. 17, South Korea has seen a weekly uptick for the fifth consecutive day, putting health authorities on alert ahead of a possible winter surge.

The country reported six deaths from COVID-19, raising the death toll to 28,856. The fatality rate stood at 0.11 percent. The number of critically ill patients came to 247, down one from a day earlier, the KDCA said.

In recent weeks, the government has eased antivirus restrictions, including lifting all outdoor mask mandates and the COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction testing requirement for inbound travelers, as part of efforts to resume pre-pandemic normalcy. (Yonhap)