China approves two experimental coronavirus vaccines to enter trials

China has approved early-stage human tests for two experimental vaccines to combat the new coronavirus that killed over 100,000 people worldwide, state media Xinhua reported on Tuesday.

The vaccines are being developed by a Beijing-based unit of Nasdaq-listed Sinovac Biotech, and by the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products, an affiliate of state-owned China National Pharmaceutical Group.

In March, China have the green-light for another clinical trial for a coronavirus vaccine candidate developed by military-backed China' s Academy of Military Medical Sciences and HK-listed biotech firm CanSino Bio, shortly after US drug developer Moderna said it had begun human tests for their vaccine with the US National Institutes of Health.

 China on Friday reported 42 new cases, 38 of them imported, along with one additional death in the hardest-hit city of Wuhan.

Another 1,169 suspected cases or those who tested positive but were not showing symptoms, were being monitored under isolation. China now has reported a total of 81,907 cases and 3,336 deaths from the virus.