France to start using Pfizer's Covid-19 drug this week, first in EU

France says it will start administering Pfizer's coronavirus antiviral drug this week, the first pill for treating COVID-19 approved in the 27-nation EU.

The country is still reporting among the world's highest per-capita daily infections, but virus-related critical care hospitalizations are easing, and the French government on Wednesday started lifting restrictions related to the surge in omicron cases.

Masks are now no longer required outdoors in France, large crowds are again allowed in concerts and sports venues and a government order to work from home part-time has been lifted.

Meanwhile, France has received its first 10,000 doses of the Pfizer drug Paxlovid and they will be available in pharmacies starting Friday, the Health Ministry said Wednesday. It says it's the first European Union country to start providing the treatment since it won regulatory approval last week.

It will be given to adults with symptoms who don't require oxygen and who are at higher risk of severe disease, according to European Medicines Agency guidelines. Supplies of the drug remain limited worldwide.

The EMA last week recommended that Paxlovid be authorised for use, saying it could help people infected with COVID-19 avoid more serious disease and being hospitalised. The drug was cleared by regulators in the US and Britain in December.

An antiviral pill from Merck also is expected to soon be authorised. Both drugs are expected to be effective against omicron because they do not target the spike protein where most of the variant's worrisome mutations reside.