Chinese scientists have claimed they have developed an oral vaccine for the killer coronavirus according to Chinese state paper People’s Daily.
The good news was shared by Professor Huang Jinhai whose team has reportedly developed the vaccine using food-grade baker’s yeast in the process.
According to the reports, Professor Jinhai, who works at Tianjin University’s School of Life Sciences, personally tested the medication by taking four doses whereas he allegedly didn’t suffer any side effects.
While the discovery seems promising, the professor explained they still have a long way to go and the vaccine has to undergo animal tests and clinical trials before it could become readily available on the market.
According to the professor, the vaccine targets the S protein of the deadly virus and helps the patient generate antibodies.
“We have produced similar animal vaccines in the past,” Prof. Huang told Beijing News as he explained why he was positive that the vaccine would work.
The news follows shortly after it was revealed that over 500 million Chinese from at least 48 major cities have been affected by the lockdown and traveling restrictions imposed amid the deadly coronavirus outbreak.
As the killer bug is spreading around the world with more than 77,000 confirmed cases worldwide, it was revealed that four provinces that are home to a total of half a billion Chinese have been placed on lockdown.
Among other measures taken to ensure that the NCoV-2 virus stops spreading, the government has blocked plenty of roads, public transport services, and railways.
While the lockdown is most severe in Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak where all city borders were shut and flights canceled, some cities have imposed their own milder restrictions.
Beijing and Shanghai, for example, have issued movement restrictions in certain areas while allowing people to freely move everywhere else in the cities.
Nevertheless, many Chinese are staying indoors and are not showing up for work amid fears that they could catch the virus while commuting.
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Replaced!