As many as 70 coronavirus vaccines are under development globally, with three currently being tested on humans, according to the World Health Organization. The furthest along in the clinical process is an experimental vaccine developed by Hong Kong-listed CanSino Biologics Inc. and the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology, which is in phase 2, Bloomberg Quint reported.

The other two that are being tested on humans are treatments developed separately by US drugmakers Moderna Inc. and Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc., according to a WHO document.

Chinese vaccine approved for human testing at the Virus Epicenter Progress is hustling to develop the right vaccine as the highly infectious respiratory disease is spreading like a wildfire across the world and has affected almost 19,00,000 people.

The drug industry is trying their best to cut short the time it takes to get a vaccine to market -- usually about 10 to 15 years -- to within the next year.

Pharmaceutical giants like Pfizer Inc. and Sanofi have vaccine candidates in the preclinical stages, according to WHO.

CanSino mentioned that last month it received Chinese regulatory approval to start human trials of its vaccine, Bloomberg report added.

Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Moderna -- which has never put out a product -- received regulatory approval to move quickly to human trials in March. This is being done by skipping the years of animal trials that are the norm in developing vaccines. Meanwhile, Inovio began its human trials last week.