"If everything moves smoothly, it takes 3-6 weeks to get to the point where you can start testing (the vaccine to treat COVID-19), then you look to see if they can raise an immune response, normally in an animal. You wont start to get human studies until about the beginning of the summer, probably July (2020). But, its a bit of a moveable feast."
Paul Kellam is a Professor of Viral Genomics at Imperial College London and vice-president of infectious diseases and vaccines at Kymab Ltd. He is co-author of the Oxford textbook Human Virology.
"If the (COVID-19) infected (patient) droplets were sneezed at you by a patient and enters your eyes, they will eventually be washed from your eyes to your nose, as both are connected through what is known as a nasolacrimal duct."
"It (COVID-19) is a close relative to SARS and MERS but not genetically identical."