The vaccine against coronavirus could be launched by the end of 2020, Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said on Friday.
In an interview with CCTV, Wu also claimed that China has the new COVID-19 outbreak in Beijing under control, hailing the government's decision to close the Xinfadi market, the origin of the infection spreading in the capital.
"If the pandemic controls at Xinfadi occurred only a few days later, the transmission would have been more unexpected," he asserted, adding that Beijing could have become another Wuhan if no timely containment measures imposed by authorities.