Pakistan approves final-phase of Covid vaccine

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's

drug regulatory agency

has approved final-phase testing of a Chinese-made

vaccine

against coronavirus in this Islamic nation where the new virus has caused 617 deaths since February.

In Monday's statement, the state-run

National Institute of Health

said the approval to carry out

advanced clinical trials

for potential Covid-19 was granted by Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan. It said the phase-3 clinical trials for a candidate vaccine against the new virus will be conducted at the country's main health facilities.

It said the vaccine was produced by CanSinoBio, a China-based vaccine developer and Beijing Institute of Biotechnology.

Pakistan, which has witnessed a steady decline in fatalities from the new virus, reported only 15 new Covid-19 deaths and 617 new cases in the past 24 hours. It has reported 289,832 cases since February when the first infection was detected in the country.