SYDNEY • Australia will buy 300,000 courses of Merck's experimental antiviral pill, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said yesterday, as Victoria logged the highest number of daily Covid-19 infections of any state in the country since the coronavirus pandemic began.
Molnupiravir, which would be the first oral antiviral medication for the coronavirus if it gets regulatory approval, could halve the chances of dying or being hospitalised for people most at risk of contracting severe Covid-19, said experts.
"These treatments mean that we are going to be able to live with the virus," Mr Morrison told Nine News as Australia aims to reopen its borders next month for fully vaccinated citizens and permanent residents.
Molnupiravir capsules have to be taken twice a day for five days by adult patients for a course of 10, Mr Morrison said. The drug is expected to be available in Australia by early next year if approved by the country's drug regulator.
Merck expects to produce 10 million courses of the treatment by the end of the year.
South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan and Malaysia have all said they are in talks to buy the potential treatment, while the Philippines is running a trial on the pill.
Australia, meanwhile, is stepping up its vaccination rate, with Sydney and Melbourne, its largest cities, and the capital Canberra enduring a weeks-long lockdown to combat the highly infectious Delta variant. The national first-dose rate in the adult population topped 80 per cent yesterday.
A total of 1,763 new infections were reported in Victoria, exceeding the previous daily high of 1,488 last Saturday, with the state looking to start reopening once full vaccination levels in its adult population reaches 70 per cent, expected around the end of this month, from 53 per cent now.
Mr Dominic Perrottet, who was elected as the new Premier of New South Wales yesterday, said the state was on track to exit lockdown on Oct 11, the first Monday after it expects 70 per cent of its population aged over 16 to be fully vaccinated.
Infections in New South Wales fell to the lowest in seven weeks yesterday - at 608 new cases, the majority in state capital Sydney, down from 623 on Monday.
Seven new deaths were recorded.
Even with the Delta outbreaks, Australia still has relatively low coronavirus numbers, with around 115,800 cases.
Total deaths stood at 1,357, with the mortality rate from the current Delta outbreak lower than during last year due to higher inoculation among the vulnerable population.
REUTERS
