ST. PETERSBURG, June 2. /TASS/. Researchers from the St. Petersburg-based Smorodintsev Research Institute of Influenza are working on a vaccine against the novel coronavirus infection on the basis of a flu virus, a spokesman for the institute told TASS on Tuesday.

"The Research Institute of Influenza is developing a vaccine against the novel coronavirus infection on the basis of a flu virus. We take an attenuated version of this virus and use it as a vector to transport coronavirus proteins to provoke immune response that will ensure protection against the disease," the spokesman said. "Importantly, the immune response is developed in the respiratory tract, since the coronavirus is an air-borne virus and hits lungs."

According to the spokesman, the conservative part of the flu virus will be used to enter cells.

The spokesman did not say however at which stage of development the researchers are.

In late December 2019, Chinese officials notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus - named COVID-19 by the WHO - have been reported in every corner of the globe, including Russia.

On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. According to the latest statistics, over 6,383,800 people have been infected worldwide and more than 377,700 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 2,920,880 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.

To date, a total of 423,741 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 186,985 patients having recovered from the disease. Russia’s latest data indicates 5,037 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.