Researchers at the University of Hong Kong say they have developed a vaccine for the rapidly spreading coronavirus but cautioned that it might be a year before it can be used on humans.
Yuen Kwok Yung, the chairman of the university’s infectious disease research, said that although a vaccine has been developed, it will need to undergo extensive testing before it is available for use.
“We have already produced the vaccine, but it will take a long time to test,” Yuen told the South China Morning Post.
Although he gave no specific timeline, Yuen said that the vaccine would first be tested on animals, a process that will take months, and then would progress to human testing, which could begin more than a year from now.
The scientists in Hong Kong work in one of the more than half-dozen laboratories across the globe working to develop a working vaccine for the virus, which was first identified in December and has since spread to some 8,200 people, killing 171.
Doctors in Germany, Japan, and Vietnam have confirmed that the virus has been spreading to patients who have never traveled to Wuhan, China, where the virus originated. The province of Hubei, where Wuhan is located, has been hit the hardest by the illness, representing 4,903 of the confirmed cases worldwide.
Wednesday saw the largest single-day jump in deaths from the virus, with 38 people confirmed dead in one day. The World Health Organization Emergency Committee is meeting Thursday to determine whether the outbreak rises to the level of a global health emergency.
