VietJoy

China's Sinopharm Laboratory will begin human clinical trials for a possible vaccine against COVID-19 in Peru on Monday.

Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra announced Thursday that 6,000 volunteers will participate in the trials.

Vizcarra expects a second clinical trial, by the firm AstraZeneca in association with Oxford University, will begin by the end of August.

Vizcarra said Peru will be part of the World Health Organization initiative to vaccinate at least 20% of the global population, which would mean around 6.6 million Peruvians. 

So far, Peru has reported more than 560,000 coronavirus cases and more than 27,000 deaths.