Shanghai leads way in global virus fight

Shanghai has spearheaded 42 international cooperation projects to fight the novel coronavirus, a city government press conference on Monday revealed.

Well on its way to becoming a global innovation hub, Shanghai has worked with scientific institutions and companies in 13 countries including the US, the UK, Germany, France, Belgium and Japan on projects covering epidemiological investigations, diagnostic techniques and vaccine and drug research and development.

“Made in Shanghai” coronavirus test reagents have been exported to 22 countries including Germany, Japan, South Korea and Saudi Arabia to be used by over 80,000 people, said Zhang Quan, director of the Shanghai Science and Technology Commission.

So far, all the city’s scientific institutions involved in major innovation projects have resumed work, while 96 percent of its high-tech companies have resumed work.

Local scientists and experts have cooperated in 18 key tasks in four aspects: clinical diagnosis and treatment, drug and vaccine, etiology and epidemiology, medical equipment and test reagents, Zhang said.

Their research contributed to personalized treatment and precise medicine, and formed a consensus among medical experts in diagnosis and treatment. To date, 92 percent of patients have received both Western and traditional Chinese medicine.

Researchers have also helped to form a platform to monitor the whereabouts and origins of infectious diseases, according to Wu Fan, deputy director of Fudan University’s medical college.

Wu, one of the public health experts working on coronavirus control in Shanghai, said their major job is to study how the epidemic will evolve after the resumption of work to assist authorities in making timely responses.

Three Shanghai-based bioscience companies have been granted licenses to produce novel coronavirus nucleic acid detection kits. So far, they have supplied enough kits to be used by 4.42 million people, Zhang said.

The kits have received a CE marking by the European Union and the new-generation detection products made in Shanghai have entered the official license approval process.

Also, advanced technologies including 5G, big data and artificial intelligence have been widely used in the research and development of new products such as robots, medical devices and Infrared temperature measurement and monitoring systems.

So far, more than 4 million infrared temperature sensor chips have been made, while orders have exceeded 30 million.

In addition, 486 sets of imaging equipment have been sent to work on the front line in 25 provinces across the country. Another 19 were exported to nine countries, together with details of experience in remote hierarchical diagnosis and treatment involving the use of artificial intelligence and new CT machines in makeshift hospitals.

“We not only provide our devices and equipment but also share with them our artificial intelligence software. It helps a lot to increase accuracy and efficiency,” Zhang said.

As yet, there is no specific medicine for treating the virus.

Researchers have been researching existing drugs in the possible treatment of coronavirus, which saves more time than developing new drugs.

Hydroxychloroquine, which can decrease the pain and swelling caused by arthritis, has been approved for clinical trials by the Ministry of Science and Technology and the National Health Commission. By last Sunday, it had been used in 184 cases in 21 hospitals.

Meanwhile, researchers have made progress in the drug’s development after they isolated new coronavirus strains. They have managed to gain some active compounds, and clinical trials on an mRNA vaccine are expected to be launched next month, Zhang said.

Local researchers have made big contributions to the country’s anti-virus fight, and China has bought time for the world to prepare the fight against the virus, Wu said.

“I want to say that it’s not just a matter of time. More importantly, China’s prevention and control plans have helped the world better understand the virus,” she said. “Our achievements are providing scientific evidence, which is vitally important for different countries to take prevention measures.”