This April 8, 2020 photo shows a vial of the drug remdesivir pictured during a press conference at the University Hospital Eppendorf in Hamburg, northern Germany, amidst the new coronavirus pandemic. (ULRICH PERREY / POOL / AFP)

HONG KONG - Gilead Sciences medicine remdesivir has received a conditional green light to be used to curb the coronavirus pandemic, Hong Kong officials said on Friday.

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The Hong Kong unit of the California-based drugmaker has to continue to submit additional data on the safety, effectiveness and quality of Veklury, the active ingredient of which is remdesivir, the Drug Office of Department of Health said on its website.

Remdesivir, which helped shorten hospital recovery times in a US clinical trial, has been added to several countries’ lists of treatments against the disease that has killed more than half a million people globally.

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Hong Kong, home to more than 7 million people, has reported a total of 1,713 coronavirus cases and 12 deaths since late January.