TWO of the UK's leading coronavirus experts have offered an update on when a coronavirus vaccine can be expected.

Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser, and Professor Chris Whitty, England's chief medical officer, held a press conference on Monday in which they addressed the rising numbers of coronavirus cases across the UK and looked forward to how the situation will change approaching the winter months.

When discussing the possibility of a vaccine, Sir Patrick said it was "more likely" a vaccine would become available in the first half of 2021.

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More than 240 vaccine candidates in development across the world, with more than 40 of these in clinical trials.

Nine of these potential vaccines are in larger scale phase 3 or 2/3 trials.

"We are now living with this virus," said Sir Patrick. "It is circulating around the population worldwide. It will continue to do so. We will be learning how to live with it.

"I'm pleased to say there is good progress that has been made.

"Many vaccines have now shown they generate an immune response of a type that ought to be protective, and several vaccines are in very late stage clinical testing, aiming to show they are both effective and safe.

"The UK, through the vaccines taskforce, has got access to a number of these, with a range of different vaccine technologies from a number of different companies.

"The UK has put itself in a good position in terms of vaccine supply, and the possibility that one of these will work.

"We don't yet know that they will work, but there is increasing evidence that it is pointing in the right direction, and it is possible that some vaccines could be available before the end of the year in small amounts for certain groups; much more likely is that we will see vaccines becoming available over the first half of next year.

"Again, this is not certain, but it's pointing in the right direction, which then gives the possibility of a different approach to this virus.

"But in the meantime, we've got to get control of this in order to make sure we can live with it in a way that's sustainable and protects health and society overall."