Experts at the world health organisation say they do not expect an approved vaccine to reach the market until next year. The spread continues, so does the quest for a cure. Several countries are in the race to develop a coronavirus cure

Experts say the focus is on developing vaccines. About 35 companies and academic institutions are working on it. In America, the first round of tests has begun. A trial is being run in Washington to test a new vaccine.

On Monday, the participants were given their first shot. No pre and post-roll

"This is the first trial of this vaccine. So our goals are pretty basic. We want to look at the safety and then secondary to that, we want to look at the immune response, specifically, antibodies produced against that particular protein that the vaccine causes to be made," said Dr Lisa Jackson, Kaiser Permanente investigator leading the study.

China too has approved tests for its own coronavirus vaccine. It has been developed at china's academy of military medical sciences. More than 100 people will be administered the shot.

When can we expect these vaccines to arrive in the market?

Not anytime soon.

Experts at the world health organisation say they do not expect an approved vaccine to reach the market until next year.

A cure could take much longer. But — some early ideas look promising. A drug from Japan could be the answer to treating the coronavirus.

It is called "Favipiravir" — its a drug for influenza, that was approved for clinical use in Japan in 2014.

Favipiravir, also known as T-705, Avigan, or Favilavir is an antiviral drug being developed by Toyama Chemical of Japan with activity against many RNA viruses.

The Chinese have tested Favipiravir on coronavirus patients. They recovered faster. As of today, there are more than two lakh cases of the coronavirus.

Out of these — more than 80 thousand people have recovered.

So far, the patients are being given a combination of existing drugs.

This includes Remdesivir — a drug that was developed for the treatment of Ebola.

In Jaipur — a combination of two anti-HIV drugs was used to treat an Italian couple for the coronavirus. They too have recovered.

But a definitive cure is still work in progress.