Health authorities said Monday they have secured COVID-19 treatments for 177,000 patients, stepping up efforts for a stable supply of pills as the summer wave is expected to peak this week."Since Aug. 15, a total of 262,000 doses of COVID-19 treatments have been supplied in phases," said Son Young-rae, a senior official from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), noting that the daily demand is currently estimated at 5,000 doses.South Korea previously announced plans to purchase COVID-19 treatments using a reserve fund of 326.8 billion won (US$246.3 million), which will be administered to high-risk groups.Son added that while the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients is showing signs of abating, senior citizens should continue to take basic precautionary measures, including wearing masks.According to the KDCA, the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients reached 1,444 in the third week of August, marking a 5.7 percent increase from the previous week.In the second week of August, the figure was 1,366, representing a significant 55.2 percent rise from the week before.Source: Yonhap News Agency