Hungary has become the first country in the European Union to give emergency approval to a second Chinese Covid-19 vaccine and another from India. 

The Chinese company CanSino made the announcement on Monday that its vaccine had been authorized for emergency use.

It follows a decision made by the Hungarian National Institute of Pharmacy and Nutrition after the vaccine underwent phase three trials. 

The jab is also authorized in China, Pakistan and Mexico. 

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CanSino is the second Chinese vaccine to be given approval in Hungary, after the government bought extra doses of the Sinopharm jab. It has also brought in the Russian Sputnik V shot, to top up the country's vaccine  supplies. 

A quarter of a million doses of Sputnik V arrived in the country on Sunday night and more are scheduled to arrive in the next two weeks. 

In the meantime, a version of the Oxford University-AstraZeneca jab made in India has also been given approval for emergency use – with the surgeon general, Cecilia Muller, telling a news briefing Hungary is in a "race against time." She told reporters: "We will overturn the four corners of the world for as many doses of proper efficient and safe vaccines as possible." 

The country has been battling a deadly third wave of the virus, reporting record deaths and hospitalization rates in the past few weeks. The government has insisted the country's health care system can cope but it's understood young people, mostly with a degree of medical training, are being invited to undertake training to work in intensive care units. 

Prime Minister Viktor Orban has used vaccination as a ray of hope. Last week he told Hungarians via a radio interview that restrictions can begin to ease and society can begin to gradually reopen once 2.5 million people have had a vaccine. More than 1.5 million people have had their first dose so far.

New research from the Perspective Institute says 69 percent of Hungarians want to be vaccinated, with the Pfizer jab having the most support and the AstraZeneca shot the least. The Sinopharm and Sputnik V vaccines fall in the middle, with around 50 percent acceptance.