SEOUL: Moderna Inc said on Tuesday it was in discussions with the South Korean government to potentially provide 40 million or more doses of its COVID-19 vaccine.

Potential distribution of the two-dose vaccine in South Korea is expected to start in the second quarter of 2021, the company said in a statement.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Yonhap news agency citing the presidential office reported that South Korea will sign a deal with the vaccine developer to offer COVID-19 vaccines for 20 million people.

This comes a day after officials vowed to speed up efforts to launch a public coronavirus vaccination programme as the country detected its first cases of the virus variant linked to the rapid rise in infections in Britain.