People wait to undergo COVID-19 tests at a testing station in Seoul, July 12. Yonhap

South Korea's new coronavirus cases rose to over 40,000 for the first time in two months as the country has experienced a resurgence of infections amid the fast spread of a highly contagious new Omicron subvariant.

The country added 40,266 new COVID-19 infections, including 398 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 18,602,109, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.

It is the first time that the daily count surpassed the 40,000 level since May 11, when the figure came to 43,908 amid the spread of Omicron.

Wednesday's figure also more than doubled from 19,362 cases logged a week earlier, as the country has seen an upturn in infections from end-June due to the highly contagious Omicron subvariant BA.5.