The South Korean government has allowed the use of the anti-COVID-19 drug Lagevrio in an emergency situation, according to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety on Wednesday.

Pfizer's antiviral drug Paxlovid, created by the US pharmaceutical firm MSD, was approved by the country's health regulators in December, making it the second anti-coronavirus medication to be approved by the country's health officials in recent months.

Following an increase in COVID-19 cases, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare stated that its approval decision was based on the requirement of presenting a viable alternative treatment for high-risk patients who were unable to take the existing medication due to certain illnesses involving the kidneys or the liver.

As stated by the Ministry of Health, pregnant women and patients under the age of 18 will be excluded from the list of those who will be permitted to use the newly approved pill. According to the government, some of the negative effects of Lagevrio include dizziness, diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting.

The government declared on Monday that it intends to launch a batch of Lagevrio this week that would include adequate supplies for 100,000 COVID-19 patients, according to the Washington Post.

Lagevrio, also known as Molnupiravir, has been approved on a conditional or emergency basis in 15 countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom. Patients with mild to moderate symptoms were found to be half as likely to be admitted to the hospital if the medication was administered within five days of the commencement of their symptoms, according to the results of the medicine's phase 3 clinical study.

Due to hundreds of thousands of verified cases being reported every day for the past ten days, the country's total caseload has already topped ten million cases as of Tuesday morning.