MANAMA: Bahrain’s health authorities authorized Pfizer’s Paxlovid COVID-19 drug for emergency use in adults aged 18 and over on Saturday. It will be used to treat adults suffering from mild to moderate symptoms who are at an increased risk of developing severe COVID-19 that may lead to death, Bahrain News Agency said. The decision by the National Health Regulatory Authority was based on the review and evaluation of data provided by Pfizer. The NHRA said the Health Ministry has begun importing procedures in accordance with the relevant standards and requirements, and that the medication was expected to arrive in January. Meanwhile, new figures from Britain’s official statistics body estimate that about 1 in 25 people in private households in England had COVID-19 in the week before Christmas, as the highly transmissible omicron variant spread rapidly across the country. The number jumped from 1 in 45 in the previous week, the Office for National Statistics said on Friday. One in 25 is the equivalent of about 2 million people with coronavirus in England, the highest number since the statistics body began estimating infection levels in May 2020. The figure was even higher in London, the British capital, where officials said around 1 in 15 people was likely to test positive for the coronavirus in the week to Dec. 23. In another development, Turkey’s Health Ministry is allowing a fifth dose as a booster for people who’ve received two doses each of Sinovac and BioNTech vaccines. Healthcare workers and people above 65 started off their inoculation early this year with China’s Sinovac’s inactivated vaccine. They became eligible for a third and fourth doses with Pfizer-BioNTech’s mRNA vaccine in response to the highly contagious delta variant. The fifth “reminder” dose would be available for people who had their fourth shot three months prior and appointments were opened on Friday.