Sharjah24 – Reuters: South Korea will begin treating coronavirus patients with Pfizer's antiviral pills on Friday, health officials said, as concern mounts over the spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant.
At least 21,000 of the pills, called Paxlovid, will arrive on Thursday and be sent out to some 280 pharmacies and 90 residential treatment centres, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.
The medication will be used to treat more than 1,000 people a day, with priority groups including patients with a high chance of developing critical symptoms, those aged 65 or older and those with reduced immunity, the KDCA said.
Another 10,000 of the pills are expected to arrive later in the month.
Paxlovid was nearly 90% effective in preventing hospitalisations and deaths in patients at high risk of severe illness, and data suggested it retains its effectiveness against Omicron, Pfizer has said.
South Korea has been exploring additional pharmaceutical tools to head off a surge of infections caused by the Omicron variant. It approved the use of Novavax Inc's vaccine on Wednesday.
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