The World Health Organisation's chief scientist, Dr Soumya Swaminathan, said that the agency is optimistic and hopeful that the Covid-19 vaccines could be available before the end of this year.

CoronavirusThe WHO scientist also said that clinical trials have now definitively shown that anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine does not have an impact on preventing deaths from Covid-19.

In reference to a future vaccine against the deadly virus, she said there are about 10 candidates who are in human testing phase and at least three of them are entering the new promising phase-three stage which proves a vaccine's efficacy.

Coronavirus“I'm hopeful, I'm optimistic, but vaccine development is a complex undertaking and comes with a lot of uncertainty. The good thing is that we have many different vaccine candidates and platforms,” she said.