Indian provincial minister, who participated in Covid vaccine trial, tests positive

Indian state Haryana's health minister Anil Vij has tested positive for Covid-19, nearly 14 days after he was administered the first dose of India's indigenous vaccine candidate Covaxin during a trial.

"I have been tested Corona positive. I am admitted in Civil Hospital Ambala Cantt. All those who have come in close contact to me are advised to get themselves tested for corona," Vij (67), also the state's home minister, tweeted today.

Vij was administered a dose of Covaxin, a Covid-19 vaccine developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), along with hundreds of people in Haryana on November 20, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

Meanwhile, Bharat Biotech, in a statement, said that Covaxin has been designed to be effective if a person takes two doses and the "efficacy (of the vaccine) can be determined 14 days after the second dose."

"Covaxin clinical trials are based on a 2-dose schedule, given 28 days apart. The vaccine efficacy will be determined 14 days post the 2nd dose," the firm said in a statement today, soon after the Haryana health minister said he has tested Covid-19 positive.

One of the three Covid vaccine candidates being tested in India, Covaxin, in its third phase of trials, will be administered to "26,000 subjects across 25 sites", it said.