More than 30 studies are under way in France — of a world total of 860 — in search of drugs to treat the Covid-19 disease sweeping the world, AFP quoted infectologist Florence Ader as saying on Sunday.

The research is “extremely active” in France involving some 1,600 patients, Ader told a news conference.

Ader heads up a study dubbed Discovery in collaboration with several other European countries, with researchers conducting clinical trials of four potential treatments including the controversial hydroxychloroquine.

Around the world some 150 projects seek to develop a vaccine against the novel coronavirus. France's prestigious Institut Pasteur will carry out trials on humans by this summer, Ader said.