The main forum on the science-based fight against the COVID-19 pandemic was held on Monday, with experts and top executives offering their thoughts at the World Internet Conference - Internet Development Forum in Wuzhen of east China's Zhejiang province. 

In 2020, the sudden eruption of the novel coronavirus has had a huge impact on global economic development and social life. At the same time, the role of digital technology and application innovation in the prevention and control of the pandemic has been outstanding, greatly improving the efficiency of epidemic monitoring and analysis, virus traceability, prevention, control and treatment, and resource deployment, encouraging a belief that society can jointly overcome the crisis. 

However, facing the still severe situation of raging pandemic around the globe, the whole country and indeed the whole world should work together to fight it, said Zhong Nanshan, China's leading respiratory disease expert, via a video link at a main forum. 

"Viruses know no national boundaries and pandemics spread regardless of race. In the face of a common crisis for all humanity, no country can stay safe alone. The international community needs to join hands, abandon differences, and carry out higher, closer and more comprehensive cooperation in the fields of vaccine research and development, 5G medical care, and data sharing," Zhong said. 

He pointed out that, at present, big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and other technologies are accelerating in-depth integration in regard to transportation, medical care, education and scientific research, thus promoting the transformation and upgrading of informationization of society. 

"Especially in this anti-pandemic work, information and communication technologies have provided very strong support for prevention and control, and has shown great energy in the research and judgment of the situation, information sharing, and epidemiological analysis," the expert said. 

He added that China should stick to the driving force of information and science and technology innovation. "We must make further use of information technology to improve the early warning and response mechanism, enhance the ability of prevention, control and treatment, and help effectively safeguard the health and safety of the people." 

Zhang Yong, chairman and CEO of Alibaba Group, said China's science and technology-based anti-epidemic practices and achievements had impressed the world, and "we have felt the power of digitalization more deeply than ever." 

The widespread use of digital technology enables the targeted prevention and control of the epidemic to be accurate for every person through technological means such as health codes, so that retail businesses in society can still be operating when offline stores are closed, and more people have grown used to telecommuting and online education. Everyone's lifestyles and work styles have been encouraged to go digital, and the entire society has undergone profound changes around the operation of industrial chains, he said. 

He mentioned Alibaba's e-commerce platform had hit 498.2 billion yuan ($74.10 billion) in gross merchandise volume from 2.32 billion orders during the annual Singles' Day on Nov. 11, also known as the "Double Eleven" online shopping spree. "We felt the vitality of China's economy and the strong driving force of domestic demand," Zhang said, adding that China's digital economy has been at the forefront of the world. 

"China's digital economy has been able to develop to the current scale, and with a number of excellent Internet companies and platform-based companies emerging, which is due to the great epoch of China's reform and opening up, the various policies issued by the government encouraging development and innovation, and China becoming the world's largest market," he concluded. 

According to Li Zixue, president of telecommunications company ZTE Corp., relying on big data platforms, China can carry out epidemiological and traceability investigations, tracking close contacts, greatly improving the accuracy of prevention and control as well as screening efficiency; through "5G + healthcare", multi-disciplinary experts can remotely provide critically ill patients with collaborative diagnosis and treatment to improve the level of front-line medical treatment; smart logistics can ensure the effective supply of civilian resources, including the emergency deployment of anti-epidemic materials such as medical protective suits. 

He pointed out that, in terms of economic recovery and development, the digital economy had become a key growth engine. Affected by the pandemic, the domestic GDP fell by 1.6% in the first half of the year, but the digital economy still grew by 14.5%. 

Many companies used digital applications such as remote meetings and online marketing to quickly resume work and production. New business formats such as online consumption and online education continue to emerge, enhancing the resilience of economic development during the pandemic. 

Tatjana Matic, state secretary of the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications of Serbia, appeared via video link at the forum and thanked China for providing medical equipment and protective gear and sending medical experts and doctors to help her country's battle against the pandemic. 

Matic said Serbia wanted to work more closely together and have exchanges with China, the world's digital economy leader, realizing that technology was a means to overcome political differences and geographic distance, as well as a means to promote human social and economic progress. 

"During the pandemic, the most important thing is to learn from the past experience, overcome difficulties through cooperation, and restore social and economic life as soon as possible, with the focus on protecting the lives and health of the people. Serbia will continue to move forward on the road of jointly building a digital future, ready to deal in solidarity with any difficulties that may arise," she said.

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