The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency on Dec. 27 said the country as early as next month will introduce an oral drug to treat COVID-19. (Yonhap News)

By Park Hye Ri and Yoon Hee Young

The nation will introduce as early as next month oral medication to treat COVID-19.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) on Dec. 27 said the government will seek advance purchase contracts to secure enough pills to cover 1,004,000 patients.

As of Dec. 27, Seoul had signed separate deals for oral drugs for a combined 604,000 patients with U.S. pharmaceutical giants Merck (242,000) and Pfizer (362,000).

The medications have no major restrictions on use and are expected to slash the death rate from the coronavirus by preventing a severe progression of COVID-19.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety on the same day decided to grant emergency authorization for Paxlovid, Pfizer's oral pill for COVID-19. The prescription drug is used to treat mild to moderate COVID-19 patients aged 12 or older and weighing at least 40 kg who are deemed at high risk for severe illness.

Clinical tests proved that the medications reduce the risk of hospitalization or death 88% when used on COVID-19 patients at high risk but with mild to moderate symptoms. Possible side effects include an impaired sense of taste, diarrhea, high blood pressure and muscle aches, most of which were mild enough to alleviate fears over safety.

The government is also discussing additional purchase deals to prevent the spread of the omicron variant and resume a phased return to daily life.

The KDCA said, "The introduction of oral treatments is expected to help reduce hospitalization or deaths of those at high risk and with mild to moderate symptoms as well as maintain the medical quarantine system," adding, "We will continue reviewing the purchase of the pills by synthesizing data on domestic and international situations of treatment development, quarantine situations and clinical research results."

hrhr@korea.kr