The  European Medicines Agency (EMA) said on Tuesday it had received an application from AstraZeneca for the conditional approval of the drugmaker's COVID-19 vaccine being developed along with the University of Oxford.

The  European medicines regulator said it would assess the application under an accelerated timeline.

An opinion on the conditional marketing authorization could be issued by January 29 during the meeting of its Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP), the EMA said in a statement.

The watchdog also said that during its rolling review of the vaccine, it had assessed data from ongoing trials in Britain, Brazil and South Africa.

Additional information was also provided by AstraZeneca at the request of CHMP and is currently being studied.