The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said Monday it expects the introduction of Paxlovid to help diversify options for COVID-19 treatments and prevent patients' conditions from becoming serious amid surging infections and critical cases in South Korea.The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency says the government has signed contracts to procure Paxlovid pills enough to cover 362,000 patients. It says the Paxlovid pills will be delivered to South Korea as early as mid-January. It says South Korea has also signed contracts to procure Merck's COVID-19 pills to treat 242,000 people.The drug safety agency says it's still reviewing whether to approve Merck's molnupiravir.
