A cooperation framework agreement was jointly signed Thursday by the Jack Ma Foundation, Alibaba Cloud, Zhong Nanshan's medical foundation and the Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Health.

According to the agreement, 6 million yuan will be used to support epidemic-related research and development at the Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Health through Zhong's foundation. The remaining 4 million yuan will fund the screening of effective anti-virus drugs from existing drugs.

Alibaba Cloud will provide AI computing power free of charge to support the development of new drugs, viral gene sequencing and protein screening.

On Jan. 29, the Jack Ma Foundation announced it would donate 100 million yuan to support the research and development of a novel coronavirus vaccine.