Each bottle contains 40 pills, according to the centre, which were approved to be used in adult patients with mild to medium COVID infection and a high risk of progressing to severe cases.

China has granted conditional approval for the import of Molnupiravir, which was developed by Merck, also known as MSD outside the United States and Canada.

($1 = 6.7810 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Ella Cao and Meg Shen; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Ed Osmond)