Chile's health regulator on Wednesday approved emergency use of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Chinese company CanSino, as the South American country forges ahead with a massive vaccination campaign and fights a second spike of cases.

Chile's President Sebastian Pinera said at the end of March that he had signed a deal to buy 1.8 million vials of the single-dose vaccine.

The single-dose vaccine, co-developed by domestic firm CanSino Biologics and the Institute of Military Medicine under the Academy of Military Sciences, has received similar approval in China, Mexico, Pakistan and Hungary.