New drug will help speed up the recovery of infected people and reduce deaths among COVID-19 patients DUBAI: The UAE has approved emergency use of a new COVID-19 treatment proven to be highly effective against variants of the coronavirus, the first country to both license and allow immediate patient use. Sotrovimab (Vir-7831) – created by healthcare company GSK – was previously granted an emergency use authorization by the US Food and Drug Administration. Sotrovimab offers the prospect of reducing hospitalization for more than 24 hours and fatalities by as much as 85 percent when administered to patients as an early treatment for COVID-19, a report from state news agency WAM said. The UAE has allowed Sotrovimab, a monoclonal antibody, to be used for the treatment of patients aged 12 years or older with mild to moderate COVID-19 disease who are at risk of progression to hospitalization or death, the report added. The new drug will help speed up the recovery of infected people and reduce deaths among COVID-19 patients, according to UAE health officials. It is hoped it will be a turning point in the ongoing battle against the coronavirus in light of the noticeable progress made by the UAE in providing vaccines and treatments, they added. The UAE has given 110,605 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine overnight, bringing the total number of jabs provided to 12,756,630 for vaccine distribution rate of 128.98 doses per 100 people.