Quarantine authorities say COVID-19 infections are officially on the rise again, citing last week’s reproduction rate, which refers to the number of infections caused by a single patient.

Senior health ministry official Lee Ki-il said on Friday that the nation’s COVID-19 reproduction rate stood at one-point-05 last week.

He said this week is seeing a daily average of 15-thousand-277 cases, up 86-and-a-half percent from last week.

Lee said the government believes the latest rise was a result of an increase in infections from the omicron subvariant BA.5, a decline in immunity and an increased number of people moving around during the summer season.

He specified that the BA.5 subvariant accounted for more than 28 percent of all infections in the fifth week of June, jumping from one-point-four percent in the second week of the month.

The official said the government will announce next week its planned response to the resurgence of infections during the summer period.