INFECTIOUS disease experts will use £20 million of UK Government investment to embark on an ambitious six-month plan to produce a coronavirus vaccine.
Health Secretary Matthew Hancock said the Government would plough fresh money into developing a vaccine to combat the deadly global disease.
But Dr Michael Head, senior research fellow in global health at Southampton University, said the risk to the UK remains “generally low”.
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The investment will go to CEPI (the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations), a global body that is aiming to fast-track a vaccine within six to eight months. The UK’s £20m will go towards funding the efforts of Dr Kate Broderick, a 42-year-old Scot based in California, who is working to create a vaccine. It comes as a 44-year-old man in the Philippines died in the first confirmed death of the virus outside China.
The death toll in China has risen to more than 300, but the only confirmed cases in the UK are a York University student and their relative.
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