South Korea's new COVID-19 cases remained over 10,000 for the third straight day Thursday as the country is moving toward regaining pre-pandemic normalcy following the relaxation of most antivirus restrictions.

The country reported 11,596 cases, including 15 cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 30,956,026, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said.

Wednesday's tally is a slight drop from a week ago and more than 2,000 lower than the previous day, data showed.

The country added five COVID-19 deaths, raising the death toll to 34,361. The number of critically ill patients came to 127, down from 129 a day earlier.

Health authorities have been closely monitoring the daily tally after the government lifted most COVID-19 restrictions, including the mask mandate on public transportation. The mask mandate remains in place for medical facilities, pharmacies and other infection-prone places.

Additionally, the government plans to reduce the mandatory COVID-19 isolation period to five days from the current seven in May.

Meanwhile, South Korea confirmed another case of the mpox virus on the same day, bringing the county's total to nine.

The infected individual is a South Korean national in Gyeonggi Province, some 24 kilometers south of Seoul, and had no overseas travel history within the three weeks prior to experiencing symptoms.

Patient No. 9 marks another case of local transmission of mpox, following two cases confirmed Wednesday. Health authorities have decided to raise the country's alert level against the virus from the current "attention (level 1)" to "cautious (level 2)" amid an increase in community transmissions.

Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, is traditionally confined to regions in Central and Western Africa and can cause fever, chills, rashes and lesions, among other symptoms. South Korea confirmed the first case of mpox on June 22 last year. (Yonhap)