Baku, March 18, AZERTAC

China has launched the clinical trials for its first coronavirus vaccine, which is developed by the country's top military bio-warfare expert and her team.

Chen Wei, the lead researcher, announced last night that Beijing has granted permission to start the tests.

“Vaccine is the strongest scientific weapon to end the coronavirus,” the bio-warfare expert told state broadcaster CCTV.

“If China is the first country to invent such weapons and have our own patents, it shows the progress of our science and the image of a giant country.”

The research team has also prepared for large-scale production of the vaccine, Chen added.

The Recombinant Novel Coronavirus Vaccine was successfully developed following more than a month of research, including the study of the vaccines for Ebola.

Chen, also a leading specialist in genetic engineering vaccines in China, developed a medical spray during the SARS outbreak in 2003. The product prevented around 14,000 medical workers from contracting the virus, said another state-media report.

She is also known in the country as the 'terminator of Ebola' for leading a team to create a vaccine against the fatal illness.

Speaking of fighting the novel coronavirus, Chen said: “The epidemic is like a military situation. The epicentre equals to the battlefield.”

The 54-year-old expert, also a Major General of the People's Army, has been working on the coronavirus vaccine since arriving in Wuhan on January 26, according to the press.

Chen and her team were already developing a quicker way to screen the COVID-19 coronavirus from a tent in the epicenter on January 30, according to an official report from China.