The EU's drug regulator on Thursday allowed member states to use Pfizer's new COVID-19 pill ahead of its formal approval, as an emergency measure to curb an Omicron-fuelled wave.

Pfizer said this week that its Paxlovid pill reduced hospitalizations and deaths in vulnerable people by almost 90 percent.

"The medicine, which is not yet authorized in the EU, can be used to treat adults with COVID-19 who do not require supplemental oxygen and who are at increased risk of progressing to severe disease," the EMA said in a statement.