Japan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Tosimitsu Motegi has declared that Japan will start supplying Avigan drugs (also known as Favipiravir) to 43 countries free of charge in order to combat the coronavirus, reports RIA Novosti.

The drug was developed as an anti-flu drug six years ago, but was no longer used. However, Chinese doctors have discovered its effectiveness for treating pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus.

In March, Japan started conducting clinical experiments with 80 patients who had COVID-19 and had slight or no symptoms. Currently, Japan has enough supplies of Avigan for the treatment of 2,000,000 people.