China's COVID-19 database records 4.44 million downloads: Official

China's 2019 Novel Coronavirus Resource database has recorded more than 4 million downloads, providing data service to users from 152 countries and regions in the world, a Chinese official said on Thursday.

The COVID-19 outbreak presents a challenge for the whole world, requiring joint efforts from the global scientific and technological community as well as the wisdom of the whole society, said Xu Nanping, vice minister of science and technology, at a press conference.

He noted that the achievements China has made must be shared by all mankind, and sharing scientific data and information is China's fundamental attitude to the COVID-19 control.

According to Xu, China shared the first completed genome sequence of the novel coronavirus on Jan. 11, providing basic information for virus research, drug screening and vaccine development.

China also built two platforms to share its scientific proceedings, namely a novel coronavirus data sharing and analysis platform under the National Microbiology Data Center and the 2019 Novel Coronavirus Resource (2019nCoVR) database under the China National Center for Bioinformation.

As of Wednesday, the 2019nCoVR had provided data service to more than 76,000 visitors from 152 countries and regions, and recorded 4.44 million downloads, said Xu.

He added that researchers in China and abroad have made use of the database and published high quality research papers on the virus.