A vaccine developed by a unit of China National Biotec Group (CNBG) is 79.34% effective at protecting people from COVID-19 and the company has filed an application for regulatory approval in China for its general public use, the developer said Wednesday.

The vaccine is among the five most advanced candidates from China in terms of development and has been used in the country's emergency use program that has vaccinated hundreds of thousands of people since July.

The CNBG unit, called Beijing Biological Products Institute, said in a statement that the efficacy rate is based on an interim analysis of data from its Phase 3 trials and it had applied to the National Medical Products Administration for conditional approval of the vaccine.

It did not give details such as the number of infections in the trial. A company spokesperson said detailed clinical trial results will be released later, without specifying an expected timeline.

CNBG, a subsidiary of state-backed China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm), has another vaccine in late-stage trials and both have been approved for emergency use in China even though studies have not been completed.