Solidarity in a Crisis

China shares its COVID-19 scientific gains to help curb the global pandemic

- Li Xiaoyu

Silent, devastating and moving freely – diseases have no borders and viruses don’t carry passports. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), as of March 11, the new coronavirus had infected more than 118,000 people in 114 countries and regions, leaving 4,291 people dead. WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a news conference held in Geneva on the same day that COVID-19 could now be termed a pandemic. He called on the international community on several occasions to unite to overcome this new health crisis facing humanity.

In China, the curve of coronavirus infections seems to have waned over the last several weeks.

In response to the virus’ threatening advance in many countries, also on March 11, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced that China was ready to contribute to the global fight. In fact, the battle fought in China from the very start of the epidemic opened a window of opportunity for the rest of the world.

Open source data

On December 30, 2019, the Jinyintan Hospital in Wuhan, the epicenter of the epidemic in China, submitted the first samples taken from infected patients to the Wuhan Institute of Virology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Only 72 hours later, the complete sequencing of the new virus genome had been completed. Soon after, a genomic comparison confirmed that Wuhan was dealing with a completely new coronavirus. Having the genome sequence is like having access to the virus’ Big Data, which makes it possible to understand its development and track its possible mutations.