Singapore, April 2 -- The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia's national science agency, has commenced the first stage of testing potential vaccines for COVID-19. The testing, expected to take three months, is underway at CSIRO's high-containment biosecurity facility, the Australian Animal Health Laboratory (AAHL) in Geelong.

To prepare for disease outbreaks, last year CSIRO partnered with the?Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations?(CEPI), a global group that aims to derail epidemics by speeding up the development of vaccines.

In January, CEPI engaged CSIRO to start working on the virus SARS CoV-2, which causes the disease COVID-19. In consultation with?the World Health Organisation,?...