Over 30 COVID-19 vaccines are in different stages of development and a few are going to trial stages in India, informed scientists to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday held a review of the current status of India’s steady efforts in COVID-19 vaccines development, drug discovery, diagnosis and testing.

"After the meeting Indian companies have come across as innovators in early-stage vaccine development research," a statement issued by the PMO revealed.

"Three approaches are being taken in drug development in the country," the statement added.

“First, the re-purposing of existing drugs. At least four drugs are undergoing synthesis and examination in this category,” the statement further said.

“Secondly, the development of new candidate drugs and molecules are being driven by linking high performance computational approached with laboratory verification," it added.

"Thirdly, plant extracts and products are being examined for general anti-viral properties,” it further added.

"Several academic research institutions and start-ups have developed new tests, both for the Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) approach and for antibody detection, in diagnosis and testing," the statement added.

"Capacity for both these tests has been enormously scaled up by linking laboratories across the country," it further said

“The problem of importing reagents for testing has been addressed by consortia of Indian start-ups and industry, meeting current requirements," added the PMO statement.

"The current thrust also holds promise for the development of a robust long-term industry in this area,” the statement further said.

Various countries have been working hard to develop COVID-19 vaccines, however, the tests so far have not yielded any certain conclusions.

Some scientists and researchers, on the other hand, have said that COVID-19 vaccines could never be developed and the humans will have to co-exists with the virus.

"Social distancing will become the new normal of the modern world as COVID-19 vaccines will never be developed," claimed a number of scientists.

However, a number of several other scientists are hopeful of having COVID-19 vaccines within the next 18 months or less.