Chinese university receives global donation for COVID-19 research

Xiamen University in east China's Fujian Province has confirmed that it received a donation worth 600,000 U.S. dollars from the Bill Melinda Gates Foundation to research the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

The grant will be used in two aspects, one is the identification of viral characteristics for supporting COVID-19 diagnostic reagents and vaccine development, and the other is predictive model development, which can offer real-time predictions of the epidemic and assess the effectiveness of control measures. Assessment outcomes will aid decision-making for governments, a university statement said.

The university's School of Public Health, with a national research center and a state laboratory, has participated in China's emergency sci-tech projects against epidemic outbreaks, such as H1N1 influenza, A/H5N1 bird flu and Zika.

"Xiamen University has rich experiences and strong capabilities in infectious disease research," Du Heng, a senior program officer of the Gates Foundation, told Xinhua Saturday in Beijing.

"We expect this cooperation will accelerate the process of fighting against the COVID-19 epidemic," Du said.

The Gates Foundation announced in late January that it would give 5 million U.S. dollars to response efforts in China. It is already working with a range of Chinese public and private sector partners to accelerate national and international cooperation in areas of critical need, including efforts to identify and confirm cases, safely isolate and care for patients and accelerate the development of treatments and vaccines.

Apart from direct grants, the foundation, with a team of global medical experts, also committed academic and technical support to Chinese partners.