BEIJING - China has approved two domestically developed oral medicines for COVID-19 patients with mild symptoms, the National Medical Products Administration said on Sunday.

The drugs, used for treating adult patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 infections, have been developed by Simcere Pharmaceutical Group and a unit of Shanghai Junshi Biosciences Co Ltd, the administration said in a statement on its website.

China abandoned its stringent "zero COVID" policy in early December after protests against it, allowing people to travel and the virus to spread rapidly throughout the country, boosting demand for COVID treatments.

(Reporting by Kevin Yao; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)