Health experts are developing 20 vaccines to tackle the deadly coronavirus, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) official in Russia.
Naijaparry News reports that the WHO representative in President Vladimir Putin’s country, Melita Vujnovic, made this known on Friday, adding that the agency had received certification requests for 40 coronavirus tests.
As of this moment, the WHO has received 40 requests to consider and approve diagnostics tests, 20 vaccines are being developed, and many medicines are in clinical trials. We are expecting first results in several weeks,’’ she said in an interview with Sputnik.
She also said that Russia was taking significant measures to test for coronavirus and monitor all contacts of the infected to prevent the spread of the disease.
The WHO official added that countries should isolate, test, treat and monitor all COVID-19 cases to successfully fight the epidemic.
More than 10,000 people have died as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, according to an official data obtained by AFP news agency on Friday.
It is understood that in total, 10,080 deaths have been reported, with most of them – 4,932 – in Europe.
Italy is the worst-hit country with 3,405 fatalities, followed by China – the starting point of the virus – with 3,248, and Iran with 1,433.
Meanwhile, a Nigerian health agency, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), has approved an anti-malaria drug chloroquine for clinical trials in the search for a cure for coronavirus, also known as COVID-19.
The Director-General of NAFDAC, Mojisola Adeyeye, announced this in Lagos also on Friday.
“NAFDAC is not approving Chloroquine as a product that can be used for coronavirus because there is no submission to us for registration but because it is under clinical trials, NAFDAC approves medicines meant for clinical trials,” Adeyeye said at the agency’s headquarters in Nigeria’s commercial capital.
