Chinese Vice Premier Sun Chunlan, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, inspects Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, Feb. 29, 2020. Sun, who is leading a central government team guiding the epidemic control work in Hubei Province, learned about the progress of scientific research on epidemic prevention and control, including the clinical trial of drugs and vaccine development, at a research base of the Academy of Military Medical Sciences in Hubei, and Huazhong University of Science and Technology. (Xinhua/Li He)

WUHAN, Feb. 29  -- Chinese Vice Premier Sun Chunlan on Saturday stressed the role of scientific research in containing the coronavirus epidemic.

Sun, who is leading a central government team guiding the epidemic control work in Hubei Province, learned about the progress of scientific research on epidemic prevention and control, including the clinical trial of drugs and vaccine development, at a research base of the Academy of Military Medical Sciences in Hubei, and Huazhong University of Science and Technology.

Chinese researchers, in a short period of time, isolated novel coronavirus strains, identified the pathogen, developed a nucleic acid test kit and sorted out clinically effective traditional Chinese and Western medicine, buying valuable time for rapid diagnosis and scientific prevention and treatment, said Sun, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.

She called for stepping up research on tracing virus sources, transmission dynamics, medical treatment, drug screening and vaccine development.

Sun also underscored the use of traditional Chinese medicine in treating patients.