The government will purchase enough oral COVID-19 treatment medication for some 404-thousand people in the first quarter of next year.

The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters said on Friday that the government is seeking to purchase three types of drugs developed by MSD, Pfizer and Roche.

Last month, Seoul signed a purchase agreement with MSD for 200-thousand doses of a COVID-19 treatment and an advance purchase deal with Pfizer for 70-thousand doses.

Officials said they are seeking to purchase an additional 134-thousand doses after monitoring multinational companies' clinical trials and state approval.

Oral drugs are often prescribed to COVID-19 patients with underlying health conditions, who are elderly or who are experiencing mild to severe symptoms.