Academician touts tech's role in COVID-19 battle

China is a model of global epidemic prevention and control in the fight against COVID-19, said Li Lanjuan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

Li made the remarks on Monday at the China Science and Technology City Innovative Development Forum held after the opening ceremony of the 8th China Science and Technology City International High-Tech Expo in Mianyang, Sichuan province.

As a member of the high-level expert group of the National Health Commission, Li was one of the first medical experts to rush to Wuhan to fight the COVID-19 outbreak.

Artificial intelligence and big data have also played a pivotal role in the fight against COVID-19, the academician added.

"On Jan 21, we proposed those who had contacts with the seafood market in Wuhan might be the source of infection, and they had to be tested and quarantined. Thanks to big data technology, it was soon found the source of infection could be controlled," she said.

At the early stages of the fight against COVID-19, advanced medical techniques were taken to Wuhan.

The micro-ecological technology of artificial liver stem cells blocked the COVID-19 cytokine storm through the artificial liver blood purification system, pulling many patients back from the brink of death.

"A head nurse who had dilated pupils and was in a coma for 10 days was rescued," Li said.

Due to COVID-19, the five-day expo that started on Monday has included "cloud exhibition pavilions" for the first time.

New technologies such as 5G, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and big data are being used to show the exhibits online.

The expo has four pavilions, 23 exhibition areas and 582 participating enterprises and institutions with more than 1,800 exhibits, the expo's organizing committee said.

Sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Sichuan provincial government, the expo was first held in 2013.

Mianyang, Sichuan's second-largest city, was China's only science and technology city approved by the central government in 2000.

It has many key research institutes and enterprises with national defense contracts, such as the China Academy of Engineering Physics, which developed China's first nuclear bomb.

During his visit to Mianyang on Saturday, Vice-Premier Liu He said the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council have put a lot of emphasis on the construction of the technology city, and the city should strive to form an innovative base in the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle on the basis of serving national defense and focusing on military and civilian integration.

Liu Ying contributed to this story.