India's Bharat Biotech has said it was likely to export its Covid-19 vaccine to Brazil and the United Arab Emirates this week, a major success for the shot approved at home for emergency use without efficacy data from a late-stage trial.

Bharat Biotech has already supplied millions of doses of Covaxin, developed with the state-run Indian Council of Medical Research, to its home government's inoculation drive. The government has also aggressively pushed locally-made vaccines abroad as part of a diplomatic campaign.

“Mostly yes,” a Bharat Biotech spokeswoman told Reuters when asked if exports to the two countries could begin this week as reported by local media.

The company expects results from an ongoing trial involving 25,800 participants in India only by March, though the country's drug regulator has called the vaccine safe and effective amid criticism from doctors and health experts. A study on 26 participants has found Covaxin effective against the UK strain of the coronavirus.