China's top 10 sci-tech triumphs in 2020

2020 was a year like no other. Marred by the COVID-19 pandemic, the pause button was hit due to lockdowns and other epidemic control measures, with the science and technology sector being no exception.

However, thanks to effective control of the epidemic in the country, and the perseverance and bravery of the scientific and technical personnel involved, China's sci-tech sector not only managed to live up to expectations, but also yielded astonishing results that have impressed the world.

Here we list China's top 10 scientific and technological accomplishments during 2020:

# Sci-tech contributes to triumphing over COVID-19

China's overcoming of the COVID-19 epidemic bears testimony again to the country's sci-tech capacity in disease prevention and control.

After detecting an outbreak in Wuhan, central China's Hubei province, Chinese scientists worked quickly to identify the unknown contagion as a novel coronavirus, sharing the whole genome sequence with the world at the earliest opportunity. This provided a solid basis for international scientists to develop diagnostic methods, new medicines and vaccines.

The Ministry of Science and Technology, together with the National Health Commission and other departments, jointly established an anti-virus research team consisting of 14 experts, and launched 16 emergency sci-tech projects offering support on virus tracking, testing kits, medicines and vaccine development. 

According to Dr. Bruce Aylward, team leader of the WHO-China joint mission on COVID-19, China "turbo-charged it (the response to the COVID-19 pandemic) with modern science and modern technology in a way that was unimaginable even a few years ago."

Meanwhile, China has adopted multiple technological approaches to reduce the timespan for developing COVID-19 vaccines. On Dec. 31, China announced it had granted conditional marketing authorization for a domestically developed vaccine.