India clears two new vaccines and Merck pill to beat Omicron

After millions of infections and deaths from the Delta variant, the country is taking no chances

India on Tuesday approved two more vaccines and an antiviral drug to boost the country's defence against the coronavirus pandemic.

The announcement came as the capital Delhi imposed fresh restrictions to deal with a surge in Omicron cases.

India's Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said that the country's drug regulator has given emergency use authorisation to vaccines Covovax, Corbevax and an antiviral drug in a “single day” as the threat of a third wave looms.

The antiviral tablet Molnupiravir will be given to adult patients suffering from Covid-19.

The drug, made by US pharmaceutical company Merck, is thought to dramatically reduce hospital admissions among vulnerable and elderly people diagnosed with Covid-19.

A locked gate blocks access to a bar area in Berlin. Germany's government has put a lid on New Year celebrations, with nightclubs slated to close from December 28 onwards. AFP

A jogger runs past the Covid-19 Memorial Wall in London. EPA

People receive the Moderna booster at a vaccination centre in Antwerp, Belgium. Many are flocking to receive their booster shots amid surging Omicron infections. AP

People wearing face masks pose for a photo outside a coffee shop with Christmas-themed decorations in Athens, Greece. AP

A woman tapes the word "Omicron" to a handmade effigy depicting the Omicron coronavirus variant in Managua. The effigies will be burnt at midnight on December 31 as a tradition of saying goodbye to the old year and welcoming the new. AFP

Delivery workers of South Korea's leading logistics company CJ Logistics Corporation protest in the capital Seoul over working conditions. EPA

Shoppers hunt for bargains in Tokyo as people prepare for the New Year celebrations. Authorities in Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto have announced free PCR tests to reduce infection risk especially during the holidays in Japan. EPA

Travellers at the international airport in Samut Prakan, Thailand. Authorities have suspended quarantine-free entry to the country for all passengers, to contain the spread of the Omicron variant. EPA

People queue for Covid-19 status checks before entering the Egyptian Museum, in Turin, northern Italy. EPA

A woman takes a Covid-19 test at a pop-up testing site as the Omicron coronavirus variant continues to spread in Manhattan, New York. Reuters

Workers check the body temperatures of pupils arriving for Year 12 examinations at a school in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. EPA

Thousands of people on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on December 26. Brazil's beaches are crowded with the arrival of summer despite the worldwide spread of the Omicron Covid-19 variant. Authorities will hold a New Year's Eve party on the Copacabana shore. Getty Images

People gather during a demonstration of the cultural sector against the closure of venues under new rules put into place against Covid-19, in Brussels, Belgium. EPA

Shoppers during Boxing Day sales in Glasgow. New restrictions have been introduced in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. Getty Images

A woman takes a Covid-19 test in Times Square as the Omicron coronavirus variant continues to spread in New York City. Reuters

Hospital workers gather for a selfie in the Covid-19 intensive care unit of the La Timone hospital in Marseille, southern France. One of the country’s largest hospitals, La Timone has weathered wave after wave of coronavirus. AP

Cricket fans arrive on the first day of the third Ashes Test between Australia and England in Melbourne, Australia. EPA

A screen at the San Francisco International Airport shows cancelled United Airlines flights to Chicago O'Hare and Cleveland on Christmas Eve. EPA

Travellers wait for trains on the eve of Christmas, at Euston Station in London. EPA

Pastries named "virus" and "vaccine" on display in the window of a cafe and pastry shop in Prague, Czech Republic. Countries in central Europe are preparing for what many fear will be a fifth wave of the coronavirus brought on by the rapid spread of the Omicron variant. Getty Images

People wait to receive vaccine doses at a shopping centre in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. EPA

People rush to receive Covid-19 testing kits from city workers in the Brooklyn area of New York. The city is handing out thousands of the kits, which include two tests per box, as part of efforts to reduce the surge of people in long lines at testing sites. AFP

People queue on Christmas Day for booster shots in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. EPA

Newly elected President Gabriel Boric receives the third booster shot of the Pfizer vaccine in Santiago, Chile. Getty Images

The US medicines regulator, the Food and Drug Administration, authorised the pill for home use on December 23.

Corbevax, the country's first RBD protein subunit vaccine, will be made by Hyderabad-based firm Biological-E, while Covovax will be developed by the Serum Institute of India, the minister said. Protein subunit vaccines use a harmless “fragment” of Covid-19 to trigger an immune response.

Tuesday's fresh approvals take the number of vaccines in India to eight, but the country is largely using Oxford/AstraZeneca's Covishield and home-grown Covaxin to immunise about 950 million adults.

The government last week said it will vaccinate children between the ages of 15 and 18, and on Monday approved Covaxin for immunising them.

It also announced that it would offer booster shots to frontline workers and vulnerable people.

The fresh preventive measures come amid a spike in the number of highly transmissible Omicron infections in the country, with cases reaching 655 on Tuesday.

India has averaged around 7,000 cases a day in the past three weeks, with another 6,358 positive cases and 293 deaths recorded on Tuesday.

But cases have risen sharply in the capital Delhi in recent days, prompting the government to sound a yellow alert on Tuesday.

Delhi on Monday identified more than 300 cases, the highest single daily rise in infections since June.

The alert will allow the government to close down schools and colleges, restrict gatherings at weddings and funerals, as well as impose caps on shops and businesses.

The city has already imposed a night curfew to deal with a surge in cases following a devastating wave in April and May of this year, that saw up to 30,000 cases a day.

Several other Indian states and cities have also imposed restrictions and night curfews to contain the spread of the virus during the festive season.