A staff member displays samples of the COVID-19 inactivated vaccine at Sinovac Biotech Ltd., in Beijing, capital of China, March 16, 2020. (Xinhua/Zhang Yuwei)

China's first DNA vaccine targeting COVID-19 will enter a clinical trial in China, as it has demonstrated positive results against the coronavirus in the immune systems of animal models and in 40 subjects in the phase one clinical trial held in the US.

The phase one clinical trial in China will be carried out at Huashan Hospital in Shanghai. The renowned COVID-19 expert Zhang Wenhong, hailing from Huashan Hospital, and Zhang Jing, director of the hospital's phase I clinical research center, will play leading role in the next trial.

The development of the vaccine is led by biotech company Advaccine, which is based in Suzhou of East China's Jiangsu Province, jiemian.com reported.

China now has five COVID-19 vaccines approved for phase one clinical trial; that is, one adenovirus vector vaccine and four inactivated vaccines, accounting for 40 percent of the total number of clinical trial stage vaccines worldwide, the Ministry of Science and Technology said on Friday. 

As of June 16, a total of 139 COVID-19 vaccines worldwide are being developed, with 11 currently undergoing clinical trials, and 128 undergoing preclinical research, according to WHO.

In fact, more COVID-19 vaccines based on other technical routes are expected to be approved for clinical trial in China.

The ministry said that vaccine research and development in China has formed a continuous path with complementary advantages.

An inactivated vaccine for COVID-19, developed by the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products, which is affiliated with the China National Pharmaceutical Group Sinopharm, has demonstrated positive preliminary results in phase one and two clinical trials, and has become the first vaccine candidate in the world to show favorable immunogenicity and safety, according to previous reports.

The vaccine, together with another inactivated vaccine developed by Sinopharm's Beijing Biological Products Institute, has already been offered to employees of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in China that are preparing for overseas deployment, as these vaccines have shown safe results with no distinct adverse reactions during both phases.