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» Some of the first electron microscope images of the SARS-CoV-2 virus came from HKUMed labs working with the Faculty of Engineering, which helped other researchers and medical professionals to identify the virus in their own work. » Two studies produced through the WHO Collaboration Centre alerted the world to the pandemic and the threat it posed, based on the pattern of case arisings in the first half of January. One study analysed the transmission dynamics of infection and provided rules for quarantine and isolation (the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention also participated), the other study modelled and forecast the spread of infection across Mainland China and the world through a mathematical dispersion model. The projections, produced in late January, were in many ways materialised. » We also showed that China's nationwide aggressive control measures halted the first wave of COVID-19 in provinces outside Hubei province, the epicentre of the epidemic. And we were the first to model the potential adverse consequences of prematurely relaxing interventions, showing how such a decision might lead to a subsequent wave of COVID-19. Later, in early May, we showed that the triple combination antiviral therapy of 01 HKU researchers showed that SARS-CoV-2 had infected a Shenzhen family cluster of 6 patients, of whom 5 had travelled to Wuhan. This study is the first demonstration of human to human transmission. The infection can be asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic. Their work included epidemiological, clinical, radiological, laboratory, and genomic studies. 02 A pseudo-colour scan electron micrograph of SARS- CoV-2 grown in culture from a patient isolate. After 24 hours, large numbers of viral particles (orange) appeared on the surface of the cell (blue). 03 Our researchers developed a vaccine candidate based on the established flu-based DelNS1 live attenuated influenza virus (LAIV) platform. It was one of five vaccine technologies selected by China’s Ministry of Science and Technology for further evaluation. interferon beta-1b, lopinavir-ritonavir and ribavirin could effectively suppress the SARS- CoV-2 viral load and cytokine, which resulted in the earlier clinical improvement and discharge of COVID-19 patients. By the end of summer 2020, HKUMed scholars were also the first in the world to document that a patient previously recovered from COVID-19 had been reinfected with SARS- CoV-2. Samples taken from the patient at each time of infection were compared and shown to be two different lineages of the virus. The world’s first nasal spray COVID-19 vaccine was also given the green light for human clinical trials in September. This flu- based vaccine is being developed by the State Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases in partnership with Xiamen University (see Treatments and Targets, page 18). 02 03 11