A COVID-19 vaccine developed by the Institute of Microbiology of Chinese Academy of Sciences (IMCAS) has obtained the green-light for emergency use in China, the institute said on Monday.

This is China's fifth approved vaccine after two from Sinopharm, one from Sinovac and one from CanSino.

The ZF2001 vaccine, in its late-stage clinical trials aims to recruit 29,000 participants across China, Uzbekistan, Indonesia, Pakistan and Ecuador, was approved for use in Uzbekistan earlier this month.

China's vaccine administration law allows emergency use "within certain scope and time limit" of vaccines amid major health crisis.

Among the four vaccines China already approved for general public use, three had been approved for small-scale emergency vaccination before gaining clearance for inoculating the wider public.

The vaccine, which is jointly developed by IMCAS and a unit of Chongqing Zhifei Biological Products, was found to be safe and triggered immune responses in early and mid-stage human tests, according to a paper published last year.

China, which has been accelerating efforts to vaccinate its population against COVID-19, had administered about 65 million doses as of Sunday.

(With input from Reuters.)