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)

A COVID-19 vaccine candidate developed by Beijing-based Sinovac Life Sciences Corp has obtained preliminary approval in Bangladesh for entering phase III clinical trials, the company said Monday.

"Our vaccine has received approval from a national drug research council in Bangladesh and is waiting to obtain final approval from Bangladesh's drug regulator, the Directorate General of Drug Administration for phase III clinical trials," Liu Peicheng, a spokesperson from Sinovac told the Global Times. No further details were given.

The latest progress came after Sinovac obtained approval in Brazil in early July to conduct phase III clinical trials to test the efficacy and safety of inactivated COVID-19.

Liu said that the first shot of the company's COVID-19 vaccine for the latest phase of clinical trials will be given to volunteers in Sao Paulo, Brazil on Monday afternoon (local time).

On Sunday, the company's COVID-19 vaccines arrived in Indonesia for phase III clinical trials, in cooperation with Indonesian state-owned enterprise Bio Farma.

He said that the company chose foreign companies and governments to conduct phase III clinical trials based on the situation of the new viral outbreak and the local government's willingness. 

"We hope to compare trial results on a global platform in order to get a scientific and precise result," he said.

Sinovac said in June that preliminary results of phase I and II clinical trials for its COVID-19 vaccine showed favorable immunogenicity and safety profiles. A total of 743 healthy volunteers aged 18 to 59 enrolled in the trials.

As the COVID-19 outbreak has been put under control in China, domestic vaccine firms are seeking cooperation with foreign institutions and companies for further research. Chinese biopharmaceutical firm CanSino Biologics Inc said in May that it had got approval from the Canadian National Research Council to conduct clinical trials for a recombinant novel coronavirus vaccine developed by the company with a military research team.