The staff showed the sample of inactivated COVID-19 vaccine at the production base of Sinopharm China Biovac.
Photographed by Zhang Yuwei, reporter of Xinhua News Agency
Hangzhou Urban Brain Precision Intelligent Control Epidemic Prevention System displays various real-time data of epidemic prevention and control dynamics.
Photographed by Xu Yu, a reporter from Xinhua News Agency
Science and technology is a sharp weapon for human beings to fight against diseases. Human beings cannot defeat disasters and epidemics without scientific development and technological innovation. In this fight against COVID-19, technology has become the "killer weapon" of the Chinese people.
Quickly determine the whole genome sequence of the virus and isolate the virus strain; Timely launch a variety of test reagent products, and quickly screen out a batch of effective drugs and treatment programs; Accelerate vaccine research and development... Recently, the Chinese government released a white paper entitled "China's Action to Fight COVID-19". The white paper pointed out that science and technology played a supporting role in the process of coordinated operations in the two battlefields of prevention and control and treatment.
Emergency tackling shows China's speed
In the face of the unknown COVID-19, China insists on taking science as the guide, making full use of the scientific and technological innovation achievements in recent years, organizing and coordinating the national advantageous scientific research forces, adhering to the coordination of scientific research, clinical work, prevention and control, and the close cooperation of industry, university and research parties, providing strong scientific and technological support for epidemic prevention and control.
After the outbreak of the epidemic, China accelerated the implementation of emergency scientific research, and promoted the R&D and application of drugs, vaccines, new testing reagents, etc. Focusing on clinical treatment and drug, vaccine research and development, detection technology and products, viral etiology and epidemiology, and animal model construction, we organized national advantageous forces to carry out scientific and technological breakthroughs in epidemic prevention and control, accelerated scientific and technological research and development and application, and deployed and launched 83 emergency projects.
In terms of vaccine research and development, China has carried out vaccine research and development in accordance with five technical routes, namely inactivated vaccine, recombinant protein vaccine, attenuated influenza virus vector vaccine, adenovirus vector vaccine, nucleic acid vaccine, etc. At present, four kinds of inactivated vaccines and one kind of adenovirus vector vaccine have been approved to carry out clinical trials. The overall research and development progress is the same as that of foreign countries, and the progress of some technical routes is internationally leading. China accounts for half of the 10 vaccines that have entered the clinical trial stage in the world.
At the opening ceremony of the 73rd World Health Assembly held not long ago, China announced that after the research and development of China's new crown vaccine was completed and put into use, it would serve as a global public product and make China's contribution to achieving the accessibility and affordability of vaccines in developing countries.
Wang Zhigang, minister of the Ministry of Science and Technology, said that the next step will continue to put vaccine research and development as the top priority. On the basis of ensuring safety and effectiveness, we will make every effort to promote vaccine research and development of the five technical routes in accordance with the principles of precision, speed and efficiency.
Science and technology drive to ensure diagnosis and treatment
The direction of scientific research is always combined with clinical treatment, prevention and control practice.
In terms of diagnosability, after the outbreak of the epidemic, China completed the research and development and marketing of nucleic acid detection reagents 14 days after the release of the virus sequence, completed the research and development and marketing of antibody detection reagents 41 days later, and launched a batch of highly sensitive and easy to operate detection equipment and reagents. The research and development layout of detection reagents covers multiple technical paths such as nucleic acid detection, gene sequencing, and immunoassay detection. With the continuous efforts of scientific researchers, the detection time of COVID-19 is shorter, the results are more accurate, and the operation is simpler.
In terms of therapeutics, China has actively carried out experimental clinical treatment and accelerated the promotion and application of clinically proven effective diagnosis and treatment methods and drugs. Adhere to the basic idea of "new use of old medicine", actively screen effective therapeutic drugs, explore new treatment methods, constantly summarize treatment experience on the basis of rigorous in vitro research and mechanism research, promote 10 drugs or treatment methods, such as chloroquine phosphate, convalescent plasma, tropizumab, traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions, Chinese patent medicine, into the diagnosis and treatment scheme, and obtain 4 clinical approvals, Five guidelines or expert consensus were formed to gradually form a "main plan" to deal with COVID-19.
"Science and technology drive has become a major feature of China's prevention and control measures." Bruce Elward, senior adviser to the Director General of the World Health Organization, came to this conclusion after a field visit.
Emerging technologies help epidemic prevention and control
After the outbreak of COVID-19, new technologies such as big data, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, 5G and so on showed their skills and became new forces in the prevention and control of COVID-19.
Among them, all regions make full use of new technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence to study and judge the epidemic trend, carry out epidemiological surveys, and strive to find every infected person, trace close contacts exhaustively and isolate them; Establish a database, carry out epidemic prevention and control risk data services according to law, accurately identify different risk groups, predict epidemic risks in different regions, and provide services for promoting orderly flow of personnel and resumption of work and production.
During the epidemic, the "health code" of one "code" per person became the voucher for personnel mobility, return to work, return to work, return to school, daily life and access to public places. As long as the personal health status is filled in once, there is no need to fill in the information repeatedly when entering and leaving different places. The prevention and control department can also use this to quickly grasp the big data of the epidemic situation. At the same time, with the help of new technologies such as big data, all regions also draw "epidemic maps" and build "digital epidemic prevention systems" to achieve scientific and technological warfare and precise epidemic prevention and control.
In the front line of diagnosis and treatment, the application of new technologies is also powerful. Relying on the characteristics of 5G such as large bandwidth and low delay, remote consultation systems have been built in many places. Through the 5G video platform, medical experts can interact with doctors and peers from all over the country and even countries in real time to gather wisdom for disease treatment. During the epidemic prevention, the intelligent medical robot went into hospitals, health service centers and isolation areas to shoot and serve, effectively alleviating the difficulty of insufficient medical staff and reducing the risk of cross infection between doctors and nurses.
Wang Zhigang said that in terms of virus etiology related research, it will also make full use of big data analysis, artificial intelligence and other technical means, and continue to conduct in-depth research around the research directions of etiology basis, virus traceability, virus variation, etc., to provide support for clarifying the pathogenesis and transmission mechanism of viruses, accelerating drug and vaccine research and development, and formulating precise prevention and control strategies.
Open cooperation contributes to the "China Program"
In the "China Plan" of global epidemic prevention, China's scientific and technological strength is a highlight. The Chinese scientific and technological community shares scientific data, technological achievements and prevention and control strategies with the world in a timely manner, and conducts in-depth scientific and technological cooperation and exchanges with countries on epidemic prevention and control, patient treatment, basic research and other key scientific and technological issues. The concept of working together in the same boat, cooperation and sharing runs through.
After the outbreak of the epidemic, China took the initiative to report the epidemic information to the World Health Organization, relevant countries and regional organizations as soon as possible, sharing the whole genome sequence information of the new coronavirus and the sequence information of the new coronavirus nucleic acid detection primer probe, providing basic support for the global epidemic resistance. Since then, China has continuously strengthened communication and exchange with the World Health Organization, carried out scientific research exchanges and cooperation with relevant countries in traceability, drugs, vaccines, testing, etc., shared scientific research data and information, and jointly studied prevention, control and treatment strategies.
Among them, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the National Health Commission, the Chinese Association for Science and Technology, and the Chinese Medical Association jointly set up an "academic exchange platform for scientific research achievements of COVID-19" for global researchers to release achievements and participate in discussions. As of May 31, 104 journals, 970 papers and reports had been launched; The Chinese Academy of Sciences released the "2019 New Coronavirus Resource Database" and built the "New Coronavirus National Science and Technology Resource Service System" and the "New Coronavirus Pneumonia Scientific Research Literature Sharing Platform". As of May 31, the three platforms had provided nearly 48 million downloads, browsing and retrieval services for more than 370000 users worldwide.
In terms of vaccine research and development and drug clinical trials, China has carried out scientific research cooperation with relevant countries, the World Health Organization, the Alliance for Innovation in Epidemic Prevention (CEPI), the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), etc., to accelerate vaccine research and development and drug clinical trials. At present, the five vaccine R&D technology routes promoted simultaneously in China are open to the outside world, and cooperation is carried out with the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom and other countries.
(Editor in charge: Zhang Hongli (intern), Wang Zhen)
