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After the sudden end of the strict corona policy, the situation in the clinics worsened
Photo: CFOTO/Future Publishing/Getty Images
In the massive corona wave in China, the Chinese authorities have allowed the use of the drug Lagevrio (molnupiravir) from the American manufacturer Merck.
The Chinese drug regulator reported on Friday on its website about the emergency approval, which is subject to conditions.
The drug could be used to treat patients with initially mild symptoms who have risk factors for a severe course of Covid 19, the authority said.
These included serious illnesses, old age, obesity, diabetes, heart or lung diseases or cancer.
Pfizer approved the drug Paxlovid in February.
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Mulnopiravir, the active ingredient in Lagevrio, is a so-called antiviral.
It creates copying errors when the coronavirus multiplies in the body and thus prevents the spread and potentially serious course of the disease.
The most populous country on earth is currently experiencing a devastating phase of the pandemic, which is particularly affecting people who are old or have previous illnesses.
Hospitals are overwhelmed, crematoria can't cremate the corpses fast enough.
Abrupt end of the zero Covid policy
According to Western estimates, tens of thousands may have died.
But in China, according to a very narrow definition, only those who die of pneumonia or respiratory failure after infection are counted as corona dead.
After almost three years of lockdowns, mass testing and forced quarantine, China abruptly announced an end to its zero-Covid policy on December 7th.
The reason for the turnaround was that the infections with the new omicron variants were no longer as severe.
Experts saw the main reason, however, in the fact that the strict measures could no longer keep up with the explosive spread.
The restrictions also increasingly weighed on the second largest economy in the world.
According to officially unconfirmed internal estimates, 248 million people or 18 percent of the population were infected with Corona in the first three weeks of December alone.
According to calculations by the London-based research company Airfinity, 1.8 million people are newly infected every day, and around 11,000 of them die.
According to calculations, the number of corona deaths could increase to 1.7 million by the end of April.
The Chinese authorities no longer publish official figures.
jae/dpa
