LONDON (REUTERS) - Positive news on initial trials of the University of Oxford's potential Covid-19 vaccine that has been licensed to AstraZeneca could be announced as soon as Thursday (July 16), ITV's political editor Robert Peston said, citing a source.

The project has started Phase III of the human trials to assess how the vaccine works in a large number of people over the age of 18, but has yet to report Phase I trial results.

The developers of the vaccine earlier this month said they were encouraged by the immune response they had seen in trials so far.

"I am hearing there will be positive news soon (perhaps tomorrow) on initial trials of the Oxford Covid-19 vaccine that is backed by AstraZeneca," Mr Peston said in a blog post on Wednesday.