THREE candidate vaccines for coronavirus, officially tagged COVID-19, have reached clinical evaluation stage, while 67 other vaccines are being developed globally, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has disclosed.

In a document titled : ‘Draft landscape of COVID-19 candidate vaccines’ published on the WHO website, a list of 70 vaccines were presented, with three being considered top as they are being tested in the human trials.

The top three vaccines in clinical trial stage as stated in the document include; an experimental vaccine developed by Hong Kong-listed CanSino Biologics Inc. and the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology, which is already in phase two, using the Non Replicating Viral Vector trial method.

The other two, which are being tested in humans (DNA), are developed differently by Moderna Inc. and Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc, which are both United States drugmakers, Bloomberg reports.

While the news of vaccines being developed bring hope, the WHO, however issued a disclaimer, informing the public that the document remains only a source of information and that the organisation withdraws itself from any form of warranties regarding the accuracy, completeness, fitness of any of the products listed in the seven-page document, containing the list of 70 vaccines being developed globally.

Since its first outbreak in Wuhan, China, coronavirus has infected over 1.8 million people globally and killed over 116,000 persons, according to Worldometer.

In Nigeria, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), has recorded 323 cases in different parts of the country and registered 10 death from coronavirus complications.

The COVID-19 pandemic which has spread to over 200 countries worldwide has forced governments to issue travel bans, border closures and effect lockdowns and movement restrictions in their nations – all in attempt to curb the spread of the deadly virus.

With the containment strategy implemented in most countries proving less effective daily, experts are racing to find a cure.

In the meantime, the world economy has grinded to a halt, and the WHO has announced that some African countries might hit peak of the virus, if testing capacity is not increased and care taken to curtail the spread of the virus.