St. Petersburg (Russia), Sep 10 (RIA Novosti) Russian researchers Thursday said they have begun clinical testing of a swine flu vaccine in the northwestern city of St. Petersburg.

'Today we are starting research to evaluate the safety and efficiency of a live viral vaccine,' said Marina Stukova, chief researcher for molecular virology and gene engineering at the Influenza Research Institute in St. Petersburg.

The institute had received the A/H1N1 strain for vaccine research from the World Health Organization (WHO) on May 12.

Stukova said the research, including inactivated vaccine tests to be launched after Sep 18, should be completed in November.

The tests will be closed to the press.

The first stage to last 31 days will involve 30 volunteers. They will spend about a week in hospital, and will later have to make several visits to the research institute. The second group to receive the live virus vaccine will be tested for 42 days, she said.

The new vaccine will also be tested in Sergiyev Posad, 75 km northeast of Moscow, so a total of 60 volunteers will be involved.