5,000 volunteers sign up for coronavirus vaccine trial in Wuhan

Around 5,000 people have signed up for phase I clinical trial of recombinant vel coronavirus vaccine in Chinese city Wuhan where virus first emerged late last year.

recruitment for participants ended this week with nearly 5,000 volunteers signing up for trial, state-run Beijing News reported on Wednesday.

A single-centre, open and dose-escalation phase I clinical trial for recombinant vel coronavirus vaccine (adeviral vector) will be tested in healthy adults d between 18 and 60 years, according to ChiCTR (China Clinical Trial Register).

trial, led by experts from Academy of Military Medical Sciences, gained its approval on March 16 and research is expected to last half a year.

Requiring at least 108 participants, trial will be conducted in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, region worst-affected by virus in country, state-run China Daily reported.

Participants will experience 14-day quarantine restrictions after being vaccinated and ir health condition will be recorded every day.

Chinese scientists are hastening development of COVID-19 vaccines through five approaches --- inactivated vaccines, genetic engineering subunit vaccines, adevirus vector vaccines, nucleic acid vaccines and vaccines using attenuated influenza virus as vectors.

So far, most teams are expected to complete preclinical research in April and some are moving forward faster, Wang Junzhi, an academician with Chinese Academy of Engineering said.

Wang ted that research and development of COVID-19 vaccines in China is t slower than foreign counterparts and has been carried out in a scientific, standardised and orderly way.

China has stepped up process to finalise vaccines to counter COVID-19 after Kaiser Permanente research facility in Seattle and Washington stole march and began human trials.

China lifted tough restrictions on Hubei province on Wednesday after a months-long lockdown as country reported new domestic cases.

But re were ar 47 imported infections from overseas, National Health Commission said. In total, 474 imported infections have been diagsed in China -- mostly Chinese nationals returning home.