Visitors at Chonnam National University Hospital in Dong-gu, Gwangju, wearing masks (Yonhap)

Health authorities said Friday they plan to supply treatments for 260,000 COVID-19 patients, as the nation saw a surge in cases due to a summer wave.

"We have started contacting global pharmaceutical companies after recognizing that treatments are being used more widely than before, and the supply will start this week," Park Ji-young, a senior official from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), said.

The KDCA added that it will have treatments available nationwide by the end of this month and will begin administering vaccines effective against KP.3, an omicron subvariant which made up 45.5 percent of cases in South Korea last month.

The number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients, meanwhile, had come to 1,357 as of the second week of August, marking the highest level this year.

The KDCA said the current wave of COVID-19, however, does not show a significant rise in the rate of critically ill patients or fatalities compared with previous waves.

The fatality rate of COVID-19 patients has remained at 0.1 percent since 2022, with the rate hovering below 0.01 percent for those aged 50 and below, which is similar to or lower than that of the seasonal flu.

The KDCA, meanwhile, said it is not currently considering mandating the use of facial masks at this stage.

"Amid the rising number of COVID-19 cases, we have upgraded the recommendation to a strong advisory. While there won't be any penalties for not wearing a mask, we strongly encourage public cooperation," another KDCA official said. (Yonhap)