The Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission, together with seven other government departments of the city, launched five projects and 10 measures to seek for technological breakthroughs in tackling the novel coronavirus-related pneumonia, the commission's director, Xu Qiang, said at a press conference on the city's efforts to control the epidemic Wednesday.

According to Xu, the commission set up a leadership group on epidemic prevention and control after the outbreak, and organized a team comprising etiology, epidemiology, clinical, and technological experts.

In terms of the provision, transfer, and approval of biological samples, the commission established an inter-agency mechanism and applied for green channels. Meanwhile, it motivated companies producing supplies that support epidemic prevention and control to resume production.

Besides the five projects on rapid diagnostic reagents, drug screening, and so on, the commission is also recruiting companies to submit proposals for other related projects, and has received 41 applications.

In terms of clinical diagnosis, Beijing supported the Academy of Military Medical Sciences to develop the technology for viral nucleic acid detection, which was among the first technologies approved by the National Medical Products Administration for use in clinical diagnosis. It also promoted cooperation among companies, the academy, and the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention in developing products for rapid diagnosis of the disease.

In the research and development of new drugs, the commission supported the Global Health Drug Discovery Institute and Tsinghua University in opening up research and development platforms and data for free. So far, it has received cooperation applications from over 70 research institutions, companies, and researchers. It also supported companies in Beijing in the research and development of antibodies, vaccines, and other drugs.

The commission also promotes the cooperation of companies that are specialized in artificial intelligence and infrared thermal imaging technology to develop high-efficiency temperature detection and analysis system, and promoted its application at airports, railway stations, and subway stations. Over 350 units of those equipment are now in use.

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