Asia-Pacific Biotech News

The following topics are under this section:

• Coronavirus – A Primer
• COVID-19 Diagnostic Testing: Biotech Companies Come to the Fore
• The Race to Contain the Virus
• The Novel Coronavirus: Vaccine Research and Preventive Measures

The following topics are under this section:

• Coronavirus Disease (COVID-10) Outbreak in China
• Overview of Coronavirus Incidence and Response within the United Kingdom
• COVID-19 in Germany
• Coronavirus in the US: High Alert But Optimistic

China is currently in the midst of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic, which originated in Wuhan, the capital of the Province of Hubei, in early December 2019. The cumulative total number of confirmed coronavirus cases on the Mainland of China reached 68,500 as of midnight of 15 February, out of which 56,249 cases, or 82 percent, were in Hubei. Thus far, the cumulative total number of deaths attributable to the coronavirus reached 1665 for the Mainland as a whole, but with the overwhelming bulk, 1596, or 96 percent, in Hubei. In the meantime, the coronavirus has also spread to Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, as well as twenty-five foreign countries. The urgent questions are: (1) Can the coronavirus epidemic be controlled? (2) What measures should be taken? And (3) When will it all end? We attempt to provide tentative answers to these questions in this paper.