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Russian Health Ministry embarks on creating coronavirus vaccine

The Chinese authorities informed the World Health Organization about the outbreak of an unknown disease in the city of Wuhan on December 31, 2019

MOSCOW, January 21. /TASS/. The Russian Health Ministry has commenced work on developing a coronavirus vaccine and is in negotiations with Chinese scientists on obtaining biological material, in order to get a head start on creating the inoculation, Russian Deputy Health Minister Sergei Krayevoy told TASS Tuesday.

"We have begun working [on the vaccine], but we must solve several fundamental issues here. First, we need an appropriate animal specimen. Second, we need the living virus itself. [...] An effort is underway with our Chinese comrades to obtain the corresponding biological materials," the deputy minister said, adding that Russian Health Ministry is developing a diagnostic test system.

The Chinese authorities informed the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of an unknown disease in the city of Wuhan on December 31, 2019. On January 7, 2020, Chinese specialists identified the new 2019-nCoV coronavirus as the culprit. According to the National Health Committee of China, 291 people came down with the new virus by January 21.

On Wednesday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus will conduct an emergency meeting on the Chinese pneumonia outbreak, caused by the new coronavirus type.