There are over 13,000 coronavirus cases in India.

Highlights The vaccine has proved effective against leprosy, boosts immunity

US and China too are working on vaccines to counter coronavirus

COVID-19 has killed 437 people in India; over 13,000 are infected

Indian scientists are testing a multi-purpose vaccine that has proved effective against leprosy and boosts immunity in hosts to see if it can help tackle the coronavirus, the chief of country's largest public-funded research institution told NDTV on Friday.

"With the approval of the DCGI (Drug Controller General of India), we have begun tests on the MW vaccine that has been successfully used against leprosy," Dr Shekhar Mande, Director General of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), said.

"Making a vaccine is a lengthy process. The research is going on. We are working on a vaccine that improves the immunity in hosts. We are awaiting two more approvals. Once we have those, we will start trials. We will know the results within the next six weeks," Dr Mande said.

The World Health Organisation has said a specific vaccine for the novel coronavirus that has triggered the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic could take at least 12 months or longer.

Several countries including the US and China are working on vaccines to counter the fast-spreading respiratory virus that has affected over 21 lakh people across the world and killed nearly 1.5 lakh. In India, over 13,000 people have been infected and 437 have died.

Dr Mande said India is working on genome sequencing of the virus that will help trace its origin and spread. It can also help understand if the virus is mutating and developing resistance to drugs being used against it.

"The NIV (National Institute of Virology) in Pune has done 25 sequencing. We have done 30 sequencing in two of our labs. We do some 500 to 1,000 in the coming two weeks," he said.

"There are around six to seven strains (of coronavirus) in the world. It is too early to say how many strains we have in India. We will find that out as we perform more sequencing," Dr Mande said.