US hospitals, weighing high demand and tight supplies, said they may limit the use of a new Eli Lilly and Co antibody drug to Covid-19 patients with multiple risk factors for serious illness or to those whose immune systems have not begun to fight the infection, Reuters reported.

The treatment, bamlanivimab, was given US emergency use authorisation (EUA) last week by the Food and Drug Administration for helping newly-diagnosed, high-risk patients avoid hospitalisation.