JAKARTA - Australia will buy 300,000 packets of Merck & Co's experimental antiviral pill, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Tuesday, as Victoria recorded the highest daily number of COVID-19 infections of any state in the country since the pandemic began.
Molnupiravir, which will be the first oral antiviral drug for COVID-19 if it gets regulatory approval, could halve the chances of death or hospitalization for people most at risk of contracting severe COVID-19, experts say.
"This treatment means, we will be able to live with the virus", Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison told Nine News, citing Reuters October 5, as the country aims to reopen its borders next month to fully vaccinated citizens and permanent residents.
"Molnupiravir capsules should be taken twice daily for five days by adult patients for 10 days", continued PM Morrison.
The drug is expected to be available in Australia as early as next year if approved by the Kangaroo State drug regulator, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said. Meanwhile, Merck expects to produce 10 million treatment programs by the end of 2021.
South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan and Malaysia have all said they are in talks to buy a potential treatment, while the Philippines is running trials of the pill.
Australia, meanwhile, is increasing its vaccination rate, with Sydney and Melbourne, its largest city, and the capital Canberra undergoing weeks of lockdown to combat the highly contagious Delta variant. The nation's first dose rate in the adult population hit 80 percent as of Tuesday morning.
Meanwhile, a total of 1,763 new infections were reported in Victoria, exceeding the previous daily high of 1,488 infections on Saturday.
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Separately, Dominic Perrottet, who was elected New South Wales' new prime minister on Tuesday, said the state was on track to come out of lockdown on October 11, the first Monday after expecting 70% of its population over the age of 16 to be fully vaccinated.
Daily infections in the state fell to a seven-week low on Tuesday at 608 new cases, the majority in the state capital Sydney, down from 623 on Monday. Seven new deaths were recorded.
Australia's total to date Australia has recorded around 115,800 cases of infection, with 1,357 deaths since last year's pandemic.
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