The Public Health Institute of Chile (ISP) on Wednesday approved the emergency use of CoronaVac, a vaccine against the novel coronavirus disease developed by Beijing-based biopharmaceutical company Sinovac.

The decision was made on grounds of good results obtained "regarding the manufacturing quality and the strains being developed in the manufacture of this vaccine," said Heriberto Garcia, ISP's acting director.

"We obtained very good results regarding the manufacturing quality and the strains being developed in the manufacturing of this vaccine. We are approving a safe and effective vaccine for the population," Xinhua reported on Thursday citing Garcia.

He added that the vaccine effectively "prevents hospitalizations and the severity of the disease."

Chile has logged 680,740 COVID-19 cases and 17,594 deaths so far.

The country is currently conducting phase-3 clinical trials of the Sinovac vaccine, and reportedly ordered 60 million doses.

The Sinovac vaccine has also been approved in Brazil, Turkey and Indonesia.