Coronavirus: from vaccines to getting back to work, China turns to science for answers to the big questions

Beijing issues report calling for scientists to prioritise development of drugs and treatments to help critically ill patients

Science ministry says it has also commissioned research to help businesses resume operations and to prevent new infections being imported into the country

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Chinese President Xi Jinping has called on the nation’s scientists to do all they can to help the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. Credit: Xinhua

Published: 11:30pm, 18 Mar 2020Updated: 6:50am, 2 Apr 2020

From developing vaccines and treatments, to advising how artificial intelligence might be used to model quarantine strategies, China’s scientists are being asked to direct all of their energies into helping tackle the coronavirus pandemic.

In a report released this week, the Ministry of Science and Technology said it was urging the country’s scientists to prioritise the development of drugs and treatments to help critically ill patients.

It said it had also commissioned new research – using computer simulations and big data – to better understand how the virus that caused Covid-19 spread, how to get the country back to work, and how to minimise the risk of importing new infections.

The report, released by the Communist Party’s flagship bimonthly journal Qiushi, came as Chinese President Xi Jinping said the country needed to pool its best research and development resources within a “new state-sponsored system” – in reference to the government programme used to nurture Olympic athletes.

Speaking to scientists from the military and academia in Beijing on March 2, Xi urged them to redouble their efforts to create vaccines and other treatments to help fight Covid-19.