Xi says coronavirus a 'devil' China will defeat, scientists 'chase' vaccine

Chinese President Xi Jinping said the rampaging coronavirus is a ‘devil’ which the Asian giant will defeat in due course, Reuters news agency reported on Tuesday.

Xi made the comment when he met with head of global health outfit, the World Health Organization Tedros Ghebreyesus.

The president stressed further that he believes the WHO and international community will give a “calm, objective and rational” assessment of the virus, state television reported.

Meanwhile Chinese researchers, at the forefront of vaccine development, are sharing vital information on the virus and its characteristics with their European colleagues.

Gao Fu, Director, China Center for Disease Control and Prevention said: “This time, we are keeping a close watch, but because of the difference between coronaviruses and other viruses, we have not seen any clear mutation of the virus so far, either from environmental or patient samples. And as I said, that’s where we’re at today with this virus.

“Based on virological studies, we know the virus would not have become as it is now without any mutation,” he added.

Mutations, in fact, can make the virus more ferocious, more easily transmitted, or on the contrary, less dangerous. To better understand it, researchers must first observe it as much as possible. And to do this, it needs a lot of laboratory time.

“We take this new sample and try to grow the virus. To do this, we are going to place it on cells that are suitable for the culture of the virus, it is a tedious work because it is a virus that doesn’t “grow” well, we are going to try to put it in the best conditions to have a viable culture of the virus in a few days. “

Samples were taken from French patients with the virus. It is from them that the culturing of the virus will begin.

The big question now is whether a patient can be contagious even before symptoms appear, which was not the case with Sras in 2002.