The first COVID-19 vaccine trial has begun, just 60 days after the genetic sequence of the virus was shared by China, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday.

“We commend the researchers around the world who have come together to systemically evaluate experimental therapeutics.

Multiple small trials with different methodologies may not give us the clear, strong evidence we need about which treatments help to save lives,” he said.

“WHO and its partners are therefore organizing a study in many countries in which some of these untested treatments are compared with each other.

This large, international study is designed to generate the robust data we need, to show which treatments are the most effective.”