Australia currently has drugs that treat the symptoms of COVID-19, and drugs which have been repurposed from other diseases.

Now the Federal Government has placed an early order for a new drug, sotrovimab, which works on COVID-19 virus particles in the body.

It has bought 7,700 doses of sotrovimab (pronounced so-tro-ve-mab), with an initial delivery due some time this year.

But the COVID-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce says the clinical trial results are too preliminary for the drug to enter routine use here. The taskforce says until further evidence shows sotrovimab is effective, it should only be given to patients as part of a human clinical trial.