Three vaccine candidates in different stages of clinical trial: Vardhan

The government is giving all necessary support for development of a vaccine against the novel coronavirus in the country and three vaccine candidates are in different phases of clinical trial, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said in Parliament on Sunday.

Replying to a discussion in Lok Sabha on the coronavirus pandemic, the Health Minister said there are 13,000 quarantine centres in the country with over 6 lakh beds.

"Yesterday (Saturday), we did 12 lakh tests in the country," Vardhan said. He noted that when the pandemic began, there were a few testing laboratories in the country but now India has the capacity to conduct 10 lakh tests a day.

"Three vaccine candidates are in different stages of clinical trial," Vardhan informed.

He said India had geared up to deal with the pandemic before the World Health Organization had cautioned the world about the novel coronavirus on January 30. He said the Centre had issued an advisory on it on January 17.