Medical workers collect throat swabs from construction workers at a construction site in Dongcheng District of Beijing, capital of China, June 17, 2020. From June 15 to 17, a total of 1,042 workers of China Construction Third Engineering Bureau Co., Ltd (Beijing) received nucleic acid tests for COVID-19. (Photo by Ke Yuqian/Xinhua)

China published the genome sequencing data of Beijing's recent outbreak late Thursday on a national novel coronavirus information system, China's first coronavirus sequence information sharing platform built amid the Wuhan outbreak. Chinese health experts said it improved China's technology shortcomings in dealing with infectious diseases, and is also conducive to the open and transparent sharing of coronavirus information globally. 

The Novel Coronavirus National Science and Technology Resource Service System, launched on January 24, was established by the National Microbiology Data Center, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Chinese Academy of Sciences. 

The genome sequencing had also been shared with the WHO and the Global Influenza Data Initiative (GISAID), the China CDC said.

Eight samples related to the coronavirus found in Beijing have been published on the system--five human and three environmental--collected from June 10 to June 12. This includes samples from a chopping board and floor drain at the Xinfadi wholesale market. 

On June 11, Beijing reported its first new local COVID-19 case in two months, and as of Friday, the capital has reported 183 cases, with a majority linked to the Xinfadi market. 

The system has published virus strain information of coronavirus during the Wuhan outbreak and global coronavirus sequence information. It will be further improved to integrate more information of pathogens for early warning and prevention of infectious diseases, the Chinese Academy of Sciences said.

Wang Guangfa, a respiratory expert at Peking University First Hospital, told the Global Times on Friday that due to China's technology shortcomings, Chinese scientists previously had to submit their virus sequencing information to foreign platforms such as the US' Genbank. But now China has its own platform for Chinese scientists and global research on coronavirus. 

The system allows foreign scientists to compare the virus information they found with China's for them to know the virus' features and how the virus transmits in different countries, Wang said. He added that it also proves China's open and transparent attitude in the COVID-19 response. 

"The system is more like a coronavirus monitoring system, which provides a platform for scientists to monitor the mutation of the virus to study changes to the virus' infectivity," Wang said. 

Jin Dongyan, a professor at School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Hong Kong, told the Global Times that most international scientists either submit their virus sequence information to Genbank or WHO's database, and China needs to promote its system to win more international recognition so that it could become a real international database for coronavirus. 

China built a direct reporting system on infectious diseases after the SARS outbreak in 2003, which was also supposed to provide early warning on infectious diseases. But it was widely believed to have failed to function properly during the early stages of the COVID-19 epidemic in Wuhan.

Experts believe the two systems were different in their early warning functions. 

Wu Zunyou, the chief epidemiologist of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that the two are completely different, as the reporting system is used for reporting contagious diseases, including COVID-19 and other diseases, but the other is targeted at viruses and other microorganism, and also in virus tracing.