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BEIJING, March 4-- Chinese President Xi Jinping has said science and technology are mankind's most powerful weapon against diseases. Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, has also stressed the pivotal role of science and technology in eventually defeating the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) epidemic. Since the outbreak, he has made a series of instructions on advancing related scientific research. The following is a timeline of the instructions that have been made public. JANUARY 25 Xi chaired a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on the COVID-19 prevention and control, which called for speeding up the research and development of drugs and vaccines. JANUARY 29 In an instruction made public on that day, Xi called on military research institutions to step up scientific research to contribute to the fight against the epidemic. FEBRUARY 3 At a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, Xi urged scientific efforts in virus source tracing. He also called for identifying the source of infection and the transmission routes at an earlier date, closely tracking the mutation of the virus and promptly developing strategies and measures on its prevention and control. FEBRUARY 10 | 
