New Delhi, August 29: The three major COVID-19 vaccine candidates in India have shown considerable progress, said a statement issued by the Health Ministry on Saturday. While two of the vaccines are under phase two of the trials, the third one - which is being developed in coordination with the University of Oxford - has entered the third round of clinical tests.

Covaxin, the candidate being developed by Bharat Biotech Pvt Ltd in consultation with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has cleared phase 1 and is currently in second phase of the trials, said Dr VK Paul, the Chairman of the Empowered Group-1 formed by the Indian government to monitor the COVID-19 situation. India's COVID-19 Stats: 0.29% Patients on Ventilators, 1.93% in ICU, 2.88% on Oxygen Support, Says Govt.

Along with Covaxin, another leading Indian vaccine candidate, being developed by pharmaceutical firm Zydus Cadila, is also in phase two if the trials that began on August 6. Both the candidates are expected to released in early 2021 - if all stages of the clinical tests are successfully completed.

"Bharat Biotech’s vaccine candidate based on inactivated virus procured by ICMR is in Phase II trial along with Zydus Cadila’s candidate which is based on viral DNA. Oxford vaccine candidate by Serum Institute of India is already in Phase III trial," Dr Paul was reported as saying.

Update by ANI

The third candidate, Covishield - being tested by Pune-based Serum Institute of India - was developed by Oxford University in coordination with AstraZeneca. The venture chose Serum Institute as its partner for production and distribution in India. A total of 14 sites have been selected in the country for conducting the human trials.

Apart from the three leading vaccine candidates in India, the government is also reportedly in talks with Russia - which had recently unveiled the "world's first coronavirus vaccine". Sputnik V, as the vaccine is named, has failed to thrill much of the western world due to the alleged discrepancy in data related to its pre-clinical and human trials.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 29, 2020 05:11 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).