Ministry of Science and ICT Holds Conference Call with Minister and Advisors
Agreement to share the latest COVID-19 status and activate the database

Following the World Health Organization's (WHO) declaration of COVID-19 as a pandemic on the 12th, our government has also set out to seek response measures with global science and technology policy leaders.

Minister of Science and ICT Choi Ki-young held a conference call with science and technology ministers and advisors from 11 countries, including Kelvin Droegemeier, Director of the U.S. White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), to discuss science and technology response measures to COVID-19.

Science and technology leaders from 12 countries, including Korea, the United States, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, and the United Kingdom, shared opinions on ways to strengthen the role of public data repositories while ensuring the public and timely use of works, such as COVID-19 related data and research results.

The immediate release of papers and research materials on COVID-19 in currently publicly accessible databases, including PubMed Sentrol (PMC), is necessary, and an artificial intelligence program to extract useful information from the released papers and materialsThere were calls to introduce it.

In addition, the participants agreed to disclose artificial intelligence programs and analysis results, and to activate the role of databases that collect and disclose relevant data, similar to the Global Influenza Data Sharing Initiative (GISAID).

The meeting participants agreed to continue sharing the latest status of COVID-19 in each country and to hold such science and technology cooperation meetings every week for a joint response.