Scientific innovation is the key for medical development and the weapon against COVID-19, medical experts from home and abroad said at the 2021 Shanghai International Symposium on Medicine in the 21st Century that took place at Rujin Hospital on Friday.

Chen Zhu, a blood cancer researcher, shared information on the latest medication developments, vaccines and clinical research related to the novel coronavirus, as well as cancer immunotherapy and genetic technology.

In addition to information on the pandemic, Chen said chronic diseases have overtaken infectious diseases to become the top killer of Chinese people, and urged lifestyle changes and education to increase public awareness.

"Smoking, alcohol, high-salt diets, lack of exercise, sitting all the time and air pollution are all major risk factors for chronic diseases," he said. "Death caused by chronic disease covers 85 percent of total deaths in China, accounting for 70 percent of the total disease burden."

Presidents of nine leading hospitals in six countries also discussed COVID-19 control, medical technology development and public health.

Heitham Hassoun from US-based Cedars-Sinai Medical Center said collaboration and cooperation between hospitals across the world should be emphasized in the future. He also championed the importance of establishing a unified medical quality standard to evaluate biomedicine, technical innovation and clinical practices.

Werner Kübler from University Hospital Basel in Switzerland said big data collection and information exchanges between facilities are also important.