French Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve visits the Wuhan National Biosafety Level 4 (P4) Laboratory in the Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. (Photo courtesy of Changjiang Daily)

French Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve visited the Wuhan National Biosafety Level 4 (P4) Laboratory in the Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), on February 23.

The Wuhan P4 Laboratory is a major public health project under an intergovernmental cooperation framework agreement signed between China and France, and thus has drawn the close attention of the French government. It was co-designed by designers from both countries and built by Chinese construction companies, which were also responsible for installation of major equipment of the lab.

Cazeneuve said France took pride in co-designing the first P4 lab in China. As epidemics know no borders, governments should work together to tackle public health challenges, such as Ebola, faced by countries across the world in recent years, he noted. The Wuhan P4 Laboratory, where France will join hands with China in conducting top-notch research to better combat epidemics, will serve as a frontline of prevention and control of emerging infectious diseases, he said.

He extended thanks to China for its extraordinary contributions and expressed the hope that the two countries will work out a wider range of cooperation programs centered on P4 labs to fight emerging infectious diseases.

CAS Vice-President Zhang Yaping said the new lab will offer basic technical support for improving China’s capabilities in preventing and controlling outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases, as well as research and development of antiviral drugs and vaccines.

He also voiced the hope that the lab will play an active role in facilitating in-depth and extensive cooperation in prevention and control of emerging infectious diseases, which will benefit the people of the two countries as well as others around the world.

Group photo taken at the Wuhan National Biosafety Level 4 (P4) Laboratory in Wuhan Institute of Virology. (Photo courtesy of Changjiang Daily)

Source: cas.cn