Science will get us through this pandemic

No matter how effective wearing face masks, washing hands, self-quarantining and social distancing are in preventing people from being infected with the novel coronavirus, a vaccine will ultimately be the most effective solution.

That explains why President Xi Jinping emphasized the importance of science and technology in the fight against the virus in a signed article published in Qiushi Magazine on Monday.

Right from the very beginning of the outbreak, Xi has repeatedly stressed that scientific advances and technological innovations are the most powerful weapons for defeating the virus. Researchers have been sparing no efforts to develop an effective vaccine, while efforts by scientific researchers and doctors have resulted in the development of a series of effective methods and treatments for the disease caused by the virus combining Western and the traditional Chinese medicine. As of noon on Tuesday, of the accumulated 81,118 people confirmed infected in China, 68,801 had recovered.

It is the efforts of scientific researchers that have ensured more effective and convenient testing devices and reagents, after the nucleic acid testing kits used at the beginning of the outbreak proved to have low accuracy and to take too long to get a result. This has allowed more people to be tested and those infected to be treated more quickly.

At the same time, artificial intelligence, big data and other technologies have been used to trace the movements of those infected and those they may have come into contact with, as well as for modeling how the epidemic might develop.

Meanwhile, virologists are doing their best to search for the source of the virus and determine how the virus first infected humans. Such research results will hopefully lead to better protection and prevention approaches to future public health threats.

For a country with 1.4 billion people, forestalling and defusing major public health emergencies is of utmost importance. It is imperative that scientific and technological research endeavors aimed at enhancing the country's response to an outbreak of a communicable disease and strengthening its bio-safety are made a priority.

But the battle is not China's alone. Fighting against diseases of all kinds has always been part of human civilization. And science has always been where we humans have sought help and solutions.

But while the benefits of science and technology are evident, the exponential growth in the size of the human population and greater ease of travel that are a direct result of scientific and technological progress, have also increased the risks of a contagious disease becoming a global pandemic.

Yet there is no reason for us to lose confidence in the efforts of scientists because of this. Science and technology will not only ensure that the world gets through this pandemic, but also, if the lessons are heeded, that we have an effective system in place to better respond to future public health threats.