South Korea said Friday it plans to import 53 tons of mask filters through June to keep up the supply of the sanitary item amid the spread of the new coronavirus.

The first batch of 2.5 tons of melt-blown nonwoven fabric filters will arrive here next week, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

The country has been running short of protective masks, as well as their materials, as demand for them has soared amid the COVID-19 epidemic.

Starting last week, South Korea has been adopting a de facto rationing scheme system for protective masks, in which people can purchase two face masks per week from pharmacies on designated days of the week depending on their year of birth.

South Korea's daily production of masks currently stands around 13 million sheets, up sharply from 3 million estimated in 2019.

The country saw an uptick in daily new infections of the novel coronavirus as new clusters of infection continued to pop up in the virus-hit southeastern city of Daegu, as well as Seoul and neighboring areas.

The 152 new cases, which were detected Wednesday and reversed four days of double-digit daily new infections, brought the nation's total number of infections to 8,565. (Yonhap)