(Yicai Global) Dec. 9 -- Shares of Sinopharm Group’s Shanghai-listed listed unit surged by the daily trading limit following a news that the United Arab Emirates has approved use of Sinopharm’s Covid-19 vaccine.

China National Medicines [SHA: 600511] jumped 10 percent today to close at CNY54.70 (USD8.36), while Hong Kong-listed Sinopharm Holding [HKG: 01099] rose 0.8 percent to HKD19.14 (USD2.47).

The experimental vaccine developed byChina National Pharmaceutical Group, as Sinopharm is officially known,is 86 percent effective against Sars-Cov-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, according to Emirates News Agency. The findings were based on clinical trials in the country that involved about 31,000 volunteers.

Nearly a million people have received doses of one of the Shanghai-based firm’s two inactivated Covid-19 vaccines via emergency-use authorization and they have reported only mild side effects, Chairman Liu Jingzhen told reporters on Nov. 17.

Sinopharm submitted a sales application request with China’s National Medical Products Administration late last month.

Editor: Peter Thomas