Chinese vaccine developer Sinopharm said interim results from final stage trials of one of its coronavirus vaccines showed a 79 per cent efficacy rate, moving the group closer to large-scale rollout in China and overseas.

The Beijing-based branch of China National Biotec Group, a unit of Sinopharm that is developing the vaccine, published the results on its website on Wednesday. The result clears the minimum requirements for Chinese regulators and the group has applied for market approval, it added.

The same jab, one of two Covid-19 vaccines under development by Sinopharm, received approval in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates this month, after the Gulf states separately said the vaccine had an 86 per cent efficacy rate. The UAE government has begun offering the vaccine to its 1m nationals and 8m foreign residents.