Science festival to showcase sci-tech contributions to fight against COVID-19

The annual Shanghai Science Festival will kick off on Aug 23, the Shanghai municipal government announced on Wednesday.

In addition to the regular programs featured in the previous editions, this year's week-long festival, which is themed "Fighting the Pandemic With Science and Technology and Innovating for the Future", will showcase the contributions of science and technology in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Zhang Wenhong, leader of the Shanghai team of experts in the clinical treatment of novel coronavirus pneumonia cases and the director of the department of infectious disease at Shanghai Huashan Hospital Affiliated with Fudan University, and Zhong Ming, deputy director of critical medicine at Zhongshan Hospital Affiliated with Fudan University and the first medical worker in Shanghai to be dispatched to Wuhan during the viral outbreak in late January, as well as representatives of young healthcare workers are among those invited to walk the red carpet during the festival's opening ceremony.

There will also be special exhibitions about the fight against COVID-19 and forums about public health, the latest findings in brain intelligence, polar expeditions and quantum science.

All forums will be available to the public through online live broadcasts.

Offline activities will be held at more than 300 venues, including the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum, the Shanghai Entomological Museum, and the Science Museum at Shanghai Changfeng Ocean World, to popularize scientific knowledge to the public.