South Korea has secured early access of COVID-19 vaccines developed by four pharmaceutical companies and from a global vaccine project for 44 million people, Yonhap News Agency reported on Tuesday.

The country's health minister said it will buy COVID-19 vaccines from AstraZeneca Inc., Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson's Janssen and Moderna.

The vaccines will be first rolled out to virus-vulnerable groups, such as elderly people, care home residents and frontline health workers, then to the rest of the population in order of risk, including those who are clinically vulnerable.

The country added 594 more COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, including 566 local infections, raising the total caseload to 38,755, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).