Researchers in Italy are claiming to have made the world’s first vaccine that works on humans.
Experts in Rome said their potential vaccine can kill the deadly virus in human cells.
The Science Times said: “According to the tests carried out at Rome’s infectious-disease Spallanzani Hospital, an Italian coronavirus vaccine has antibodies generated in mice that work on human cells.”
Luigi Aurisicchio, CEO of Italian pharmaceutical company Takis, said it was the first time in the world that this had happened.
He claimed it is the most advanced stage of testing of a vaccine created in Italy - and added that human tests are expected after the summer.
If reports prove accurate, it would be the first breakthrough since the global race for a vaccine begun.
There are at least 70 Covid-19 vaccines in the works, with several involving human trials, the World Health Organisation said.
There are five potential vaccines in advanced stages of human trials.
Mr Aurisicchio said his company is working with innovative technology which will be made available for everyone - but need help from the Italian government and abroad.
He said: “This is not a competition. If we join our forces and skills together, we can all win against coronavirus.”
Meanwhile, researchers in the UK have discovered almost 200 mutations to the coronavirus - and how it adapts as it spreads from one person to another.
Their findings offer clues as to how the virus, which causes Covid-19, changes as it moves through the human population.
And they could also help scientists better target drugs and vaccines to tackle the virus.
The study, published in Infection, Genetics and Evolution, was led by the University College London (UCL) Genetics Institute, in the UK.
Scientists analysed the genetic changes in the coronavirus by screening over 7,500 viruses from infected patients around the globe.
