<Anchor> The
number of confirmed cases continues to increase even in Europe, where daily recovery has begun before us. The World Health Organization has warned that Europe has again become the epicenter of the pandemic. In the midst of this, the UK has approved the world's first edible coronavirus treatment from US pharmaceutical company Merck.
Reporter Ahn Seo-hyun on the sidewalk.
<Reporter> The
British government has given the world's first conditional approval for the use of an oral antiviral treatment for COVID-19 developed by US pharmaceutical company Merck & Company.
The UK's measures are expected to have a positive impact on the US Food and Drug Administration's review of the emergency use of an edible drug.
Earlier last month, Merck announced that molnupiravir, an oral treatment, was effective in reducing hospitalization rates and mortality by half as a result of a phase 3 clinical trial on 775 confirmed COVID-19 patients.
In the midst of this, the number of new confirmed cases in Germany, which entered 'with Corona' since last summer, is spreading rapidly, recording an all-time high of about 34,000 per day.
This is an increase from December last year, when the COVID-19 epidemic peaked.
However, the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in Germany has remained in the 60% range for three months.
[Jens Span / German Health Minister: In the last three months, only about 2 million people in Germany have been given booster shots. Too few numbers.]
As a result, the German government is planning to strengthen restrictions on those not vaccinated against COVID-19 and speed up the booster shot.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has also warned that the current rate of transmission of COVID-19 in Europe is severe and could cause 500,000 more deaths by February next year.