Bangladesh’s state medical research agency has approved a third-phase trial of a potential Covid-19 vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac Biotech Ltd , as infections rise in the densely populated South Asian country.

Sinovac has been looking for volunteers outside China as the number of coronavirus cases there has dwindled, said a member of Bangladesh’s national technical advisory committee to tackle Covid-19.

The trial, to be conducted by the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh, could begin next month.

“We have given ethical permission for the trial after reviewing the research protocol,” Mahmood Uz Jahan, director of the Bangladesh Medical Research Council, said.

The trial will involve 4,200 volunteers, Jahan said. “Half of them will get vaccinated,” he added.