RESEARCH AND INNOVATION THE REVIEW2020 In terms of when people are infective, one study showed that patients shed the virus two to three days before symptoms appear, and that returnees to Hong Kong from Wuhan and on board a quarantined cruise ship included asymptomatic cases. These findings all flagged challenges to controlling the spread. Another study found patients shed the virus for at least nine to 10 days after the onset of symptoms, which prompted the Hong Kong Hospital Authority and WHO to adapt their policies on patient discharge. Yet another study showed that the eye could be an important route of infection. At the population level, HKUMed scholars were quick off the draw to model the transmission dynamics and likely spread of COVID-19 across China and the world. The results, released before the end of January, served as an early warning to the rest of the world of the nature of this threat and recommended that authorities worldwide start making preparations to mitigate its spread. In the following months, the model’s predictions were largely realised. The School of Public Health helped people in Hong Kong monitor the local spread of the disease by developing the real-time dashboard, which provides detailed up-to-date information on local cases and the probability of an infected person passing the virus to another, among other details. Other research showed Hong Kong had experienced ‘superspreading’ events, in which a few infected patients infect many people, and that there could be in-flight transmission aboard aircraft. Scholars in other disciplines also contributed knowledge. The Department of Mechanical Engineering showed the virus could be transmitted several metres by air when there is poor ventilation, based on an examination of cases from early in the outbreak. Meanwhile, the Faculty of Business and Economics developed a model that can predict the pandemic’s spread over time and space and assess risk using aggregated mobile phone data. Big Ideas Conference To stimulate multidisciplinary discussions and approaches, HKU organised the Virtual Forum on HKU’s Big Ideas on Combatting the COVID-19 Pandemic in May that brought together scholars from the Medicine, Science, Engineering, Business and Economics, and Education Faculties. Participants brainstormed on how to combine forces to move beyond the ‘fire-fighting’ approach to the pandemic and consider deeper, longer-term issues, such as how to develop effective drug therapies and vaccines, improve social and economic health, and address the impacts on vulnerable groups and future generations. Evidence that Masks and Other Non-drug Measures Can Help The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic gave rise to a surprising debate about whether face masks were effective in minimising infections. For places like Hong Kong, where people regularly wear masks when ill and where most of the population wore masks during SARS in 2003, the assumption was clear-cut: masks work. But in places where masks were not so common, doubts and questions arose. Research by HKUMed scholars provided strong evidence that Hong Kongers had it right. One study, published in April, confirmed that face masks helped limit the transmission of pre-COVID-19 respiratory viruses from symptomatic people; it became one of the most reported studies in the world at that time. Another experimental study of surgical mask partition using hamsters demonstrated that masks could effectively reduce COVID-19 transmission. Social restrictions and lockdowns were also assessed. One study showed that the Hong Kong government’s response during the first wave of COVID-19, which involved contact tracing and population behavioural changes but not a total lockdown, had been effective based on a sharp drop in cases of influenza, which is also easily transmitted. Another study of 54 countries and four epicentres nonetheless showed that curfews, lockdowns and other containment measures were effective in lowering the daily increase in new cases to less than 5% within one month. Taking people’s temperature has become a common way to detect fever in places that attract a lot of people, such as restaurants, fitness centres, shops and beauty salons. Researchers in the Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science developed a low-cost, portable thermography fever detection system that can be easily mastered by users. The device can run on mobile devices and can rapidly screen and single out suspected fever cases in a crowd. Prevention and Treatment The most anticipated development for COVID-19 is a vaccine that could protect people or minimise the severity of the disease. HKU has been at the forefront in pursuing this goal. Researchers at HKUMed have developed the world’s first nasal spray COVID-19 vaccine, which was given the green light for human clinical trials in September. It is being developed with collaborators in Xiamen University and it is hoped that it will become part of a phalanx of emerging vaccines that can contain the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Another vaccine candidate has also been put forth by HKUMed scholars, a PD1-based DNA vaccine encoding the receptor binding domain of SARS-CoV-2. This vaccine has been successfully licensed for industry collaboration and received funding support from the Shenzhen and Hong Kong governments for clinical trial. Researchers have also been working frantically to develop treatments for COVID-19. The Departments of Chemistry and Microbiology announced in October 2020 that they had discovered a new antiviral strategy for treating COVID-19 that A mechanical engineering study led by Professor Li Yuguo reveals airborne transmission of COVID-19 is opportunistic in nature and poor indoor ventilation plays a role in transmission . The handy thermography fever detection system for public transportations developed by a multidisciplinary group of researchers from the Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science. HKU scientists and microbiologists jointly discover a novel antiviral strategy for treatment of COVID-19 using existing metallodrugs. is based on existing metallodrugs currently used to treat other infections. Their approach was found to suppress SARS-CoV-2 replication and relieve associated symptoms in an animal model. Moreover, it is readily available for use. The researchers have applied for a US patent. This work followed earlier efforts that zeroed in on antiviral activity. For example, medical researchers showed that an antiviral therapy combining interferon beta-1b, lopinavirritonavir and ribavirin could effectively suppress the SARSCoV-2 viral load and cytokine, which resulted in earlier clinical improvement and discharge of COVID-19 patients. They also identified a potential target for antibody-based drugs in neutralising monoclonal antibodies. Broadspectrum treatments, which would attack not only COVID-19 but other viruses, have also been explored and showed promising results. 22 | 23
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