Ministry working with researchers on 16 emergency coronavirus projects

The Ministry of Science and Technology is collaborating with 12 different government agencies and research institutions in five major research areas to tackle the novel coronavirus: investigating its origin and creating drugs, vaccines, animal test models and viral test kits.

Since the outbreak, the ministry has kept a close eye on the situation and launched 16 emergency research projects. At the same time, it has examined existing research projects to find solutions and ideas to combat the virus, Sun Yanrong, deputy director of the ministry's biology center, told a press briefing on Tuesday.

"We have organically combined scientific research with clinical needs and prevention measures to provide effective products and technologies for tackling the epidemic," she said, adding scientists had made considerable progress in the five major research areas.

For example, Chinese scientists swiftly isolated the viral strains and sequenced the virus' whole genome, she said. They are also working on new viral testing kits using immunological technologies to supplement the current kits, which are based on molecular biology.

In terms of medicine, Sun said scientists had selected many pre-existing drugs that may have the potential to inhibit the virus during in vitro experiments, and they are busy testing their safety and potency on lab animals and in clinical trials.

"We will keep conducting systematic research and enhance our international cooperation," she said.

The experimental drug Remdesivir, which had shown exceptional therapeutic capability against the novel coronavirus in one United States patient, would arrive in China for clinical trial on Tuesday afternoon, Sun added, debunking a rumor from Monday that claimed more than 200 patients from Wuhan, Hubei province, had received the medication and their conditions had immediately improved.

On Sunday, Beijing's China-Japan Friendship Hospital said it would begin clinical trials on 270 moderately ill patients infected with the virus in Wuhan using Remdesivir, which was originally developed as an Ebola cure.

The trial has been approved and will run from Monday to April 27, the National Medical Products Administration's Center for Drug Evaluation said.