As of this morning – Tuesday May 5 – the current recorded case count for COVID-19 (coronavirus) in the UK has hit 190,584 with 28,734 deaths.

The Joint European Disruptive Initiative (JEDI) has launched a new initiative to bring together the world's scientists for a united attack against the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The Billion Molecules against Covid19 Grand Challenge, which is open to scientific and technology teams around the world, has one objective - to screen billions of molecules with blocking interactions on SARS-CoV-2, and ultra-fast track the route to the development of a vaccine.

For Stage 1 of the project, which runs until June 6, participant teams will, 'at a scale never seen before', screen enormous molecular libraries against protein targets of the virus, using supercomputing and artificial intelligence (AI).

These results will then be cross-correlated to determine a 'high potential list of unprecedented quality', allowing a fast track to clinical testing, the group noted.

“It is great to see that scientists are bundling forces in an unprecedented manner, sharing data and experiments at a global scale,” said Thomas Hermans, Program Manager of the #JEDICovid19Challenge.

“This Challenge builds on the collective knowledge of the best teams in computational drug discovery, and adds rapid experimental validation, to find new or existing compounds to block SARS-CoV-2, in record time.”

WASH YOUR HANDS:

Regularly and thoroughly clean your hands with an alcohol-based hand rub or wash them with soap and water.

MAINTAIN SOCIAL DISTANCING:

Maintain at least two metres (six feet) distance between yourself and anyone who is coughing or sneezing.

STAY AT HOME:

Only go outside for food, health reasons or work (but only if you cannot work from home).