The World Health Organisation is still reviewing data about Russia's Sputnik V vaccine as part of hopes that it can be approved by the UN health agency for emergency use against the coronavirus, but said that no decision is imminent.

The clarification comes after Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko in recent days said that administrative issues were among the main holdups in WHO's decision-making process about whether to grant an emergency-use listing to Sputnik V, as it has for a half dozen other vaccines.

Such approval would be a show of international confidence in the vaccine after a rigorous review process, and could pave the way for its inclusion into the Covax programme organised by WHO and key partners that is shipping Covid-19 vaccines to scores of countries around the world based on need.