Russian scientists have found the Sputnik V vaccine 97.6 per cent effective against Covid-19 in a “real-world” assessment based on data from 3.8 million people, Moscow's Gamaleya Institute and the Russian Direct Investment Fund have said.

The new effectiveness rate is higher than the 91.6pc rate outlined in results from a large-scale trial of Sputnik V that was published in The Lancet medical journal earlier this year, and compares favourably with data on the effectiveness of other Covid-19 vaccines.

“This data confirms that Sputnik V demonstrates one of the best protection rates against coronavirus among all vaccines,” said Kirill Dmitriev, head of the RDIF sovereign wealth fund which is backing the vaccine.