World Young Scientists Summit hears of China's virus control success

The two-day World Young Scientists Summit ended in Wenzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province on Monday (Oct.19), under the theme of "Gathering Talents from All Over the World, Creating a Better Future." Due to the impact of the coronavirus epidemic, the summit was conducted both online and offline.

Scientists, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and artists from over 100 countries and regions as well as international science and technology organizations participated in the summit, which was organized by the China Association for Science and Technology and Zhejiang's provincial government. About 70 percent of the participants were under the age of 45.

Zhong Nanshan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and one of the leading experts in China's fight against COVID-19, told the conference that China's epidemic prevention and control measures have achieved success as the situation in the country remained relatively stable.

"During the Chinese National Day holiday (Oct.1-7) that just passed, China received 637 million domestic tourists, which fully proved that COVID-19 was well controlled in the country," he said.

During the nine-month fight against the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, young doctors and scientific and technological workers have played a major role, Zhong said.

"Young scientists and young medical staff played an important role in the early stage of the epidemic at the community level in group prevention and group control, establishment of shelter hospitals, timely treatment of critically ill patients, early and rapid diagnosis, disease prediction and vaccine development," he added.

UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Youth, Jayathma Wickramanayake, also spoke at the meeting. She mentioned that there are 1.8 billion young people between the ages of 10 and 24 in the world, the largest young generation ever. Nearly 90 percent of them live in developing countries. If they are supposed to contribute to social and economic development, they must be ensured that they have the ability and the opportunity to realize their potential.

Today, many young people still face obstacles and cannot obtain the basic resources necessary for success, such as education, health and equal opportunities, she said, adding that it is also necessary to break inherent discrimination and prejudice, so that young girls and disabled and marginalized youth have the opportunity and stage to show themselves and realize their value.

The summit also conducted in-depth discussions centering on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and focusing on international issues such as youth and the future, and sustainable development for international dialogue and exchanges.

(Source: CGTN)