MOSCOW: Russia's sovereign wealth fund said on Friday that Paraguay had become the eighth country outside Russia to approve the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, developed by Moscow's Gamaleya Institute, for domestic use.

The Russian Direct Investment Fund said the vaccine had been granted emergency use authorisation by Paraguay's regulators, with the decision based on clinical trial data provided by Moscow.

Other countries that approved the vaccine in this way so far include Argentina, Bolivia, Venezuela, Algeria and Serbia.

RDIF did not say how many doses of Sputnik V Paraguay would receive.