Chinese officials say they’ll have a coronavirus vaccine ready next month for emergency situations and clinical trials. Eight institutes in the country are working on five approaches to inoculations in an effort to combat COVID-19.

The contagious illness has sickened more than 140,000 people and killed at least 6,200 worldwide, mostly in mainland China, as of Tuesday afternoon.“According to our estimates, we are hopeful that in April some of the vaccines will enter clinical research or be of use in emergency situations,”  director of the National Health Commission’s Science and Technology, said Friday.
While it would take at least 12 to 18 months to ensure the vaccines are safe for the general public, under Chinese law, they can be deployed earlier for urgent use in a major public health emergency, as long as the benefits outweigh the risks.