The government has announced deals to secure two new COVID-19 antivirals treatments.

Should the treatments be approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency - thousands of NHS patients will be able to access the treatments to prevent the infection from spreading and speed up recovery time.

The two new antivirals are expected to be given to those most at risk from the virus, helping reduce the severity of symptoms and ease pressure on the NHS over winter.

One of the antivirals is Molnupiravir - from company Merck Sharp and Dohme (MSD), of which the government has secured 480,000 courses. It has proven in clinical trials to reduce the risk of hospitalisation or death for at-risk non-hospitalised adults with mild to moderate COVID-19 by 50%.

The other antiviral is PF-07321332/ritonavir - from company Pfizer, of which the government has secured 250,000 courses. Three phase 2/3 trials are currently underway.

The government and NHS are now working at pace on plans for deployment of the treatments, including the delivery of a national study.

This will allow medical experts to gather further data on the potential benefits these treatments bring to vaccinated patients. Further details on the study will be set out in due course.

Before the antivirals can be authorised, they would first need to be evaluated by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), to ensure they meet the regulator’s high standards of quality, safety and effectiveness.

Antivirals are treatments used to either treat those who are infected with a virus or protect exposed individuals from becoming infected. They target the virus at an early stage, preventing progression to more severe, or even critical, symptoms.