BANGKOK, 25 May 2020:
Thailand on Saturday, started Covid-19 vaccine trials on monkeys, after positive results were seen in mice.
National Vaccine Institute director Nakorn Premsri said if the trials show promising results, the vaccine would be tested on humans by end of this year or early next year.
“If everything goes to plan, the production of the vaccine will start next year,” he told a Covid-19 daily press conference here yesterday.
Meanwhile, Covid-19 vaccine development director of Chulalongkorn University, Kiet Rakrungtham said 10,000 doses of the RNA vaccine would be produced for human trials involving 5,000 volunteers.
“Two factories will produce the vaccine. We expect the first factory to produce the vaccine by October (for human trials).”
Thailand yesterday reported zero new Covid-19 cases and fatalities over the last 24 hours, keeping the number of infections at 3,040 with 56 deaths – its fourth day in this month that there were no new daily cases,
Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) assistant spokeswoman Dr Panprapa Yongtrakul said total of confirmed cases remained at 3,040 cases, 2,921 patients have recovered and returned home while 63 are still warded.
Bangkok reported the highest number of cases with 1,708 followed by 730 (southern), 396 (central), northeastern (111) and 95 (northern), she said.
Thailand, the first country outside China to report Covid-19 cases, expects to have its own vaccine for the deadly virus by next year.
Thailand is joining the race to develop its own vaccine for Covid-19 – one of 100 potential vaccines being produced worldwide.
Singapore has confirmed an additional 548 Covid-19 cases as of noon yesterday, bringing the total tally to 31,616 with the number of patients recovering as of Saturday being 13,882.
The noon data on new cases showed that only three were Singaporeans or permanent residents while the vast majority constitutes migrant workers at dormitories, said the republic’s Ministry of Health in a statement.
The number of Covid-19 positive cases in Indonesia has risen to 22,271, with 1,372 deaths as of yesterday.
Indonesian Government spokesman on Covid-19, Achmad Yurianto, said over the past 24 hours an additional 526 new positive cases were recorded, while 21 more died from the virus.
“Right now, 11,389 patients are still under surveillance for Covid-19,” he said in his daily press conference broadcast via the official YouTube account of Indonesia’s National Agency for Disaster Management.
– Bernama