President Vladimir Putin declared Russia the first country to approve a vaccine on Tuesday even though final stage testing involving more than 2,000 people was only due to start on Wednesday, reports AFP.

The WHO says 28 of more than 150 potential vaccines are currently being actively tested on humans, among which six have reached Phase 3, the final stage when candidate drugs are tested on large groups of people.

“WHO welcomes all advances in COVID-19 vaccine research and development.” The WHO added that the organisation had been involved in guiding and accelerating research and development efforts since January.

Dhaka, 13 August (campuslive24.com)//MI